Here we are getting ready to celebrate another Christmas. Whether you're listening to this

episode on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or some other time, I'm glad we have a chance to get

together one more time

for the 2017 season of the show. Now, by the time this episode comes out, I'll be halfway to Arizona.

When my wife and I moved to California from Massachusetts three years ago, we packed up everything

into a rented RV and did a cross-country trip,

staying at campgrounds in Nashville, St. Louis, Amarillo, and a lot of other places in between.

We even visited Dollywood in the Smoky Mountains.

It wasn't the kind of thing we ever imagined ourselves doing, let alone enjoying.

But we've been wanting to do another road trip like that ever since.

So this year, we're hitting the road for Phoenix to spend the holiday with family. I'll be sure to post pictures of everything on social media. So, let's take a look back at the 2017 Christmas

season and create a little audio time capsule. After all, in just a few days, Christmas

of 2017 belongs to Christmas past. One of the big stories was that we're facing a Christmas

tree shortage. Apparently we're still feeling aftershocks from the 2008 financial crisis. You see,

it takes about seven to ten years to grow a Christmas tree.

Well, seven to ten years ago, fewer people were buying Christmas trees

because they had less cash on hand.

So demand plummeted, and growers either produced fewer trees

or closed-up shop altogether.

And now here we are, about a decade later, where the demand is

back to normal, but the supply is not. It'll probably take a few years for everything to even

out, so you can expect shortages and higher prices next year as well. And speaking of Christmas

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