Mayhem and Chaos Have Taken Up Residence...

...at our house!

I had plans to post something Christmasy every day for the month of December. Turns out my plans went a little haywire. We had been trying to get a timber guy to come and cut down about 35 large, old oak trees on our property. He came. Three weeks before Christmas and he decided he had nothing better to do than destroy my yard. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that the ginormous trees are gone. (No more worries about one thumping down on the house the next time we have a wind storm.) But three weeks before Christmas!?! Our yard is in a total shambles. Good thing we hadn't finished decorating outside yet.

For now, I'm in denial. I'm in denial about all the work that needs to be done to restore our yard to a useable space. I'm in denial that our yard could/will turn into a muddy mess as soon as the snow melts. I'm in denial that I'm actually going to have to do manual labor. I'm going to pretend (for now) that it's all going to magically get cleaned up...at least until after Christmas.

As I do with everything else in my life, I made a list. A Pro and Con list.

Con's

• The yard is destroyed!
• Some of the large trees, when falling, took out some of the smaller trees I did not want to see go.
• We have a lot of work to do.
• I'll miss the cool shade in the dead of summer.
• It's going to cost a fair amount of $'s to put our yard back together again.
• I'm going to have to dress like a lumber jack and will probably get a few hundred splinters.

Pro's

• I can plant things other than "shade loving perennials"
• My house will not stay damp all the time (this could be a plus for my allergies)
• Natural sunlight
• Actual grass and not moss
• Peace of mind knowing that my house won't be smashed to pieces by a tree older than may grandma (rest her soul)
• The trees that hold my hammock survived!!
• And finally...I can have the vegetable garden I have always dreamed of. Raised beds with a white picket fence complete with a gate. Backyard farming here I come!!!!

Here are some before and after shots. Oh and just to clarify, we do still have a lot of trees so we won't be baking in the sun. It'll be a nice mixture of sun with some shady spots.