duh, duh, DUHHH...It's FREEZING up here!

Brrr!! It's COLD! And lots of snow! and it doesn't melt between snowfalls! Our mailbox is almost buried after only 3 snow "events!" That's what the dept. of transportation calls snow storms, "snow events." While watching the news tonight, I learned that a small snow storm (less than 4 inches) cost on average $150,000 to "clean up"--salt trucks, etc. If it snows more than 4 inches, the city busts out the plows, and then the average cost for a "snow event" of 4-6 inches is $500,000. If it snows more than 6 inches, it typically costs $650,000 to $750,000. Sheesh! A white Christmas is expensive up here! They said the most expensive snow event last winter was upward of 2 million dollars.
Well, before it got too cold, we went out the day after Thanksgiving to cut down a Christmas tree. Ava helped pick it out, alternating between walking in her snow boots and riding on Steve's shoulders. Owen adorned a big snow suit and was then wedged into the baby carrier so I could haul him around. He slept the whole time, snug as a bug.The place we went didn't have the type of tree I was looking for with soft, long needles. So instead, we got a devil tree with sharp little spikes that slice your hand open when you put up an ornament. Getting it upright in the tree stand was an ordeal to say the least. Turns out the little bracket in the middle of the stand came loose, causing the tree to slip and slide every which way. With Steve on the floor and myself trying to hold up the top without incurring a severe bodily injury, we wrestled the tree for what felt like 17 hours. The tree won, for a while at least. Steve was finally able to work some fix-it-man magic and rig it up somehow. It's almost upright--enough to look good from most of the angles anyway. Putting up the lights was like round 2 of the fiasco--but by this point we were prepared with thick coats and work gloves to protect ourselves. The end result turned out just fine--we are really liking it as it adds such lovely Christmas cheer to our house. But I think the tree is secretly smug inside about laying the smack down on us.