TREE AND SHRUBSLeaf it to me

Home And Family Are The Heart Of Christmas

The Christmas glow. It emanates when you sit together arm and arm at the end of the day. Knowing that while the entire family could not be home for the holidays you were able to send a bit of home their way. The magic of Christmas exists in a virtual world that allows you nail the holiday gift giving with perfection.

Online shopping means that you can send huckleberry products from the shop downtown across the country. Salad dressing or cheese made in the town they grew up in arrives gift wrapped at their door anywhere in the world. Lists of popular toys on the grandkids wish list are available with descriptions. You can bargain hunt and be the expert on every age group.

Some gifts are just too big and too expensive to buy and ship. My daughter was ecstatic with the home office storage units I had delivered to her doorstep. I got a discount as big as the present and free delivery. My daughter-in-law received baby bath toys for the newborn and her oldest daughter unwrapped an epiphone electric guitar. I did it all and wished I had discovered this secret shopping method years ago.

Many are shopping online to avoid the malls, the long lines, and lugging stuff to the car. Then it has to go in the house and be wrapped. Then it has to be shipped which is usually another trip and line to stand in with your neighbors.

I still do some in person shopping but now I enjoy the display, carolers, and bumping into friends. The majority of my stocking stuffing and ribbon garnished gifts is conducted on my computer. Safe shopping, deep discounts, no cost gift wrapping, along with free delivery has lowered my stress and increased my joy.

I am finding the out of stock popular toys online. I appreciate the comfort of my chair instead of my shoes in a packed store. I am always shocked that amid the spirit of Christmas you have adults actually tussling with each other over a popular item. You will not miss the frustration as you marvel at the incredible options you will have shopping in your electronic mall.

Online shoppers can find special gifts directly related to your loved ones hobbies and interests. You can find autographed sports or political memorabilia. There are classic toys that will take your fifty year old brother back to his childhood.

At the end of the day we can cherish the phone calls, online pictures from family, and knowing that we were able to make difference. We connected in ways as unique and special as each loved one on our list. I am amazed that we can do our shopping, share music, pictures, and videos with the click of a mouse. Even though we are separated by distance greater than over the river and through the woods we still celebrated as a family.

“Springtime in chicago” Cestlavie’s photos around Chicago, United States (wind chicago sail)

Flowering trees for the Midwest by Mary C Walker $7.98

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region $8.22 For the untrained observer, it can be quite a challenge to sort out the many trees that make up a stand of older forest in, say, New England or the Ozarks. This well-illustrated guidebook, covering 364 species, comes to the rescue with photographs organized in several ways: by, for example, the shape of the leaf or needle, by the fruit, by the flower or cone, and by autumn coloration. Followi…

Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia $69.95 This bestselling encyclopedia, illustrated with brilliant photographs, describes the best woody plants adapted to cooler climates, showing both habit and details of more than 500 species, and including some 700 additional cultivars and varieties. Brief cultural information is supplied for each plant, as well as Dirr’s perceptive comments and opinions….

Landscaping with Native Plants of Wisconsin $15.03 Aimed at beginners and veteran gardeners alike, this book is designed to help Wisconsin gardeners find, plant, and maintain the best native species for their specific sites, however modest or lavish.  Gardening with native plants is an ever-more popular practice—and for good reason.  Naturally suited to a region’s climate and soil, native plants tend to thrive, and to reflect a true &ldq…