We hardly ever do a tree. Seems like as soon as soon as I ponder putting one up it's New Year's and what's the point? But this year is a little differnt. This year we have a short, voluble family member who gets too big a kick out of the newly discovered holiday season let it go by in our usual spirit of malaise and apathy. So this was Tree Weekend. And I seem to have survived. Surrounded now by cheery lights and blizzarded by the "Sounds of the Seasons" cable station all day (oh — that's why people opt for satellite over cable, better musical selections), the Holidays have officially asserted their stranglehold.

There were a few items that made the weekend less onerous than it might have been:

• I finally got around, late Friday night I think it was, to watching Bad Santa. I could watch it another half dozen times and still be wearing the same headshaking silly grin.
• If you're not putting an ancient redwood of some kind in your living room, this Ideal tree stand is the one. No tools assembly (thank you!!!). Solidly made. Well balanced. Well priced. I do so love it when things just work.
• I sleuthed around a bit in search of the perfect under-the-Christmas-tree train. My criteria: inexpensive, plastic (but not primary colors plastic; I want it to look like a real train), battery powered (no cords), something that will look good and run well but not require any Gomez Addams-style post-holiday conversions of the spare room to house our newly acquired model train addiction. I think I found it in the Grand Canyon Express, we'll see. I'm feverishly optimistic in light of the reviews. (Just try finding a train like I described using only the Amazon site search. I double-dog dare you.) [Update:] Big thumbs up from us on the Grand Canyon Express, it's like they made it just for the under-the-tree run.

Oh, and I actually finished our holiday cards this weekend — does anything beat Shutterfly? If so, I suspect it doesn't matter; while there's a prominent "import" button for addresses, "export" seems to be a neglected concept — featuring a blawgworthy holiday joke:

Q: An honest politician, a kind lawyer, and Santa Claus were walking down the street and saw a $20 bill. Which one picked it up?

A: Santa. The other two don't exist.

(If you haven't received enough copies of the Lawyer's Night Before Christmas, Holiday Greeting, and much more in similar vein, look no further: Bill Stebbins has you covered.)