Christmas in the cow pasture......first it is very cold!  Foggy mornings...no snow to speak of but the mountains are beautiful as the sun comes up! 

Now Christmas trees the good ones are all but gone......so what to do.......A drive out to find some MIA cows gives me the answer.......we will have a tumbleweed Christmas.....!  After a morning of Christmas shopping I head out to the place I believe the perfect tumbleweeds can be found......After several minutes wandering through the desert, and several quizzical looks from the trucks passing me by I find three....One for the Restaurant.....my mom didn't have time to get a tree this year and Harry quietly let it slip by for the house.....and one for the house in the cow pasture....Getting them into the bed of the truck was fairly easy.......now to get them back to town.....with a slight wind blowing off I went.......Traveling at 10 miles an hour this was going to take a while!  oops! gust of wind and they all fly out......Stop! Get out put them back in...I repeat this process at least three time in 3 miles so the last time I let them go......pretty beat up from hittin' the pavement anyway.....and head back to town for some baling twine to tie them down.....

 

When I asked the young girls working at the restaurant if they were ready to decorate the Christmas tree which this year was going to be a tumbleweed....they hesitated then joined in on this new and different idea.....A "tumbleweed Christmas"  None had ever done this before....

 

With plenty of baling twine to this time tie them down.....I again headed out to get the perfect tumbleweeds........Arriving back at "the spot"  I again parked and went off on my search......I quickly found one and after checking all of them stuck in the fence.....(nice of mother nature to line them up for me like that) I found two more just the right size.......

 

While tying them down a pickup pulled along side and I am sure seeing my Oregon license plates decided I was a goofy tourist....Trying to contain his laughter he assured me I could take all I wanted they were free.... I told him we were having a Tumbleweed Christmas at the Grand Owyhee and he said "oh you are Harry's daughter" as if that explained everything......!  He said he would check it out.....and continued on his way......I am sure the sight of me tying down tumbleweeds in my truck would keep a smile on his face for the rest of the day and give him a story to tell on Christmas day.....

 

All tied down I am ready to head back to town.....within minutes all were out of the truck...not entirely but hanging along the sides....blowing in the wind........have to do something about tying the tops......by this time the wind had really kicked up and just getting them back in the truck was a struggle......all the while trucks and cars are passing and I am sure wondering what in the **##.  I eventually get them all back in and the tops tied together and down....this time I make it to town.....I pulled up in front of the restaurant to the laughter and smiles of people coming and going....I announced the tumbleweed Christmas and showed off the "Christmas tree for the restaurant"  Now, I thought I had problems before....What do you use to stand a tumbleweed up straight? There isn't anything on the bottom really.....Using string, a five gallon bucket, two scrap pieces of 4x4 posts, a few rocks from the parking lot, we get the thing up...of course my Dad who thought it was a great idea in private, now is doing everything he can to assure us our method of getting it to stand up won't work..  He is busy organizing the clothes he bought at a liquidation place in Boise for transport to Mexico where he is going to open a clothing shop.....this is another story as is the potato adventure...to be continued.

 

I left before the tree was completely decorated but I am sure it looks absolutely great......Now to get mine and the one for my parents house in....All the kids & grandkids will be here so decorating will be their job when they arrive.....they of course don't know it will be a tumbleweed this year....but I am sure they will jump right in and make it a very special tumbleweed.......

note#  The Christmas tree was a hit!  People from the local area as well as the city of Boise learned of the Tumbleweed Christmas at the Grand Owyhee and came to see the lighted decorated tumbleweed tree....With small disposable cameras to video cameras and cameras on tripods they all came to see and join in the Tumbleweed Christmas at the Grand Owyhee Restaurant.