Tree O'clock

On Saturday December 5th 2009 over 100 volunteers assembled at National Star College at Ullenwood near Cheltenham as part of the BBC Breathing Places attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for the total number of trees planted in 1 hour. From 11am to 12 noon we planted 2,000 trees between us. Similar plantings took place all over the country at the same time.

Thanksgiving USA 2009

I made a flying visit to Seattle on November 22nd for Thanksgiving week in Seattle. For the majority of Americans this is a more important celebration than Christmas and a time when families are most likely to travel to be together, hence the chaos at the airports on both the day I arrived and the day I left!

On the Thursday itself lunch is almost identical our Christmas fare, with the substitution of pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake for Christmas pudding.

Just before lunch everyone at the table was asked to say what they were thankful for - Sam (age 10) said it was his current favourite online computer game whilst Rory (age 7) said it was for all troops protecting the country's freedom and for the absence of slavery - Bless!!

The day after Thanksgiving we drove up into the National Forest near Snoqualmie Pass where we trudged through the snow to select and cut down a Christmas tree. Then on the Saturday the whole family went skiing to Crystal Mountain at Mount Ranier; they have had so much snow that the resort was open even before Thanksgiving.