It does not feel like winter today. The Christmas shopping, the accompanying music filling the airwaves, both pushing us towards a winter holiday, but it doesn’t feel like winter. Sure it’s cold out, and windy today too, but winter? More like November, and November is late fall not early winter. Even as fall is slowly suffocated by winter, the winter festivities have begun. This weekend in Lake Geneva there are many such festivities, and these are winter activities that would feel more appropriate if there were some snow on the ground. I’m not sure if I’ve told you this before, but I do love snow. I love it from roughly December 1st through January 15th. Then, once I’ve reached my annual quota, I would like to see the snow removed until the following December. This should not be too much to ask.
It might snow this week, it might not, but either way, Lake Geneva will be busy ushering in the Holiday season this coming weekend. I attended the 35th Annual Great Electric Children’s Christmas Parade, which means I’ve probably already excused myself from attending the 36th annual parade taking place this Saturday (12/3/11) at 5 pm. It’s not that I don’t love parades, it’s just that I hate them. I’m not a parade sort of guy. I do enjoy drinking coffee and seeing twinkling holiday lights, but I don’t care much for the parade. If you do care for the parade, I urge you to attend it this weekend. There will be shopping specials and dining specials on Saturday downtown Lake Geneva, so shop first, then watch the parade, then go get something to eat. Be sure to tell me how the parade goes.
There are other events this weekend, like the Geneva Lake Conservancy’s Holly Ball. I now serve on the board at this organization, and I have paid for my tickets to this Saturday’s event. But alas, I cannot go, so if anyone reading this would like to attend the event in my stead, please do email me to make those arrangements. The Conservancy is a powerful advocate against unnecessary or misplaced development, and oversees conservancy easements on both private and public land. If you care about Geneva Lake as I do, then the work that the Conservancy undertakes should be applauded (monetary donations are accepted in lieu of actual applause).
But if you’re not the parade type and the thought of a Ball makes you nauseous, then perhaps a little nostalgic Christmas tree hunting is more up your alley. Last year, or perhaps the year before, I awed you with this map. Don’t act like you’re not impressed. The map provides you options, but the reality is that you should eschew the broader options and focus instead on the Countryside Tree Farm, on North Walworth Road just West of Pearce’s Farm Stand. This is where you should buy your tree. I do not own this tree farm, nor do I know the owner, but I do know that the setting is idyllic and the terrain rolling and the trees beautiful. You can cut your own here or buy one pre-cut. You could skip the tree farm and buy a fake tree, but this is shameful. I have a fake tree that I may or may not put up this year. If I do put it up, I will hate myself and that tree and my Christmas morning will likely be ruined. Save Christmas and buy a real tree.
You could buy that real tree from some corner stand in the city or the suburbs. You could do this, but you probably shouldn’t. If you take a trip to the lake the task will seem more like an event, and if there are kids on board, they will undoubtedly enjoy the jaunt into the Wisconsin woods to viscerally cut down their own tree. The reality for dads is that our kids can see us differently than we see ourselves. If we get dressed every morning and leave in a fancy car to go to a fancy office, this is nice, but do our kids view us as a masculine hero? To correct this perception, grab an axe, drive to the woods, and chop down a tree. Your children will swoon and they will ask to feel your muscles.
Winter weather or not, this is time to prepare. Come to the lake this weekend. Chop down a tree. Watch a parade. Buy some coffee or lunch and see what’s on sale downtown. Whatever your chosen activity, whatever the season, Lake Geneva will not disappoint.
Photograph by Ideal Impressions Photography