The Birch Ridge Inn 2015 Christmas Tree awaiting decorations.

The Birch Ridge Inn 2015 Christmas Tree awaiting decorations.

Traditions are important to maintain the stability of life. One of the more important traditions at the Birch Ridge Inn is Christmas Tree Monday. While some people are busy online shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving, Mary and I, together with some of our friends, spend the day together preparing for the coming holidays. Over the years the tradition has gone through some evolution, but the denouement is always the same....we all come together to raise the Christmas Tree in the Great Room at the Birch Ridge Inn.

This years tree was procured from a farm near Springfield Vermont. It stands 13 feet over the Greatroom. It is hard to tell how much the tree weighs, but the running guess is between 300 and 499 pounds. It took 6 of us to lift the tree and haul it through the door into the Great Room.

Rogues gallery enjoying the traditional Christmas Tree Monday chinese lunch at Sushi Yoshi.

The Christmas tree is now resting comfortably in the front of the Great Room at the inn. It will need to rest in place overnight to allow the branches to acclimate to the warmth of the Great Room. Decorating starts tommorrow when the first strings of lights will be placed on the tree. If all goes well, it will be fully decorated by the end of the week for the first "official showing" over the week end.

If you need a little jump to get you into the holiday season, stop bye the inn during the week as we decorate the tree. And as always this time of year....Think Snow!