We’d decided to use the artificial Christmas tree this year, and apparently that didn’t sit well with my sister. She came by earlier this week with a ticket for a tree from Habilitat, a local substance abuse rehab facility.

Off I went this morning to pick it up, saying I was going out and repeating the mantra “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.” I brought back our six-foot Noble Fir and carted it around to the back of the house where Mom could see it. Her eyes got really big and her jaw dropped a foot.

My sister’s gift gets an “A” grade.