End of the Xmas Tree season

Seriously? Xmas trees before Thanksgiving? Really!

Xmas decorations arrived at local Starbucks

Tis the season to ... visit Santa

For all ages

TimTams have now gone viral in the US

I blame the 2011 Aussie invasion

Tis the season for ... holiday hours

Optimistic Xmas Tree shopping

Soldiers Writing Letters Home, 1918

Even with the U.S. troop commitments abroad starting to wind down, there are still tens of thousands of men and women stationed overseas this holiday season.

Things have changed a lot since this photo, from the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, was taken in 1918, but this is still a good time of year to think about making a donation to the USO.

What not hope over the USO donation site and send a little something?

Christmas tree graveyard

Or transit area

Tree shopping: Metadata problems

2010-12-12-IMG_0907
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

Bought our tree at the Optimists Club stand again this year. Metadata on the trees was confusing. There were different color tags for each type of tree and price. But the colored tags overlapped; thus, yellow could be a Spruce or a Scotch pine, each at a different price. You were still obligated to be able to identify the tree type, even with the tag.

This was a challenge both for us and for the Optimists. So, this was a yellow tag, might be a Norwegian Spruce. Might not.

Any tree people out there can help?

U.S. Troops Surrounded by Holiday Mail During WWII

U.S. Troops Surrounded by Holiday Mail During WWII
Originally uploaded by Smithsonian Institution

What a change from all the emails that troops are getting this year! Still, I'm sure that packages are still welcome.

Most of us probably don't know that the USO is still around and an important part of many people's lives. If you don't know about them, go take a look when you're thinking about your holiday donations this year:

https://www.uso.org/donate/custom.aspx?id=1152&