BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[tree]](/editions/1998/12/13/tree_180x118.jpg)
Stepsisters Asley Kuemmerling, 11, and Jessica LaGory, 12, celebrate after cutting down a Christmas tree at Kern's Nursery.
(Jeff Swinger photo)
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Families traipsed amid the white pines Saturday at Kern's Nursery in Butler County looking for the "perfect" tree.
At the other end of the Tristate, ornaments and strands of lights brought a steady stream of shoppers into a nursery and crafts store in Florence.
In Wyoming, Erica Kaufman, and her husband, Nonny Schlotzhauer, helped their daughter Sonia and her best friend, Noah Shutkin, both 4, prepare bags of Hanukkah cookies and goodies to present to friends and relatives this week.
And, in Sharonville, a city effort to create a veterans memorial got a financial boost from shoppers and passersby who purchased lights for a Christmas tree on the city square.
For a season celebrating Peace on Earth, preparations can be hectic.
![[dog]](/editions/1998/12/13/dog_120x189.jpg)
Sadie, friend of Coleen Hawkenberry, was among 500 pooches in the Reindog Parade on Mount Adams.
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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Tabitha and Mark Hall with their daughters, Megan, 8, and Alison, 11 months, decided to begin a Christmas tradition and cut their own Christmas tree for the first time Saturday afternoon.
So, the Fairfield Township family hopped on a horse-drawn wagon, decked with jingling sleigh bells, at Kern's Nursery and headed for a field of trees.
"I don't like fat trees, and I don't like little trees," said Megan, passing up a squat pine and marching toward a stand of 6-foot and taller trees.
Within minutes, Megan selected the family tree and helped her father wield the saw to cut it down. The next stop would be to find the Christmas ornament the family buys each year followed by an evening of trimming the tree and, for Megan, dreams of the skateboard and computer she hopes Santa puts under it.
"I think we are going to do this every year," Mrs. Hall said. "It's a family outing. We do it together and Megan is pretty good at picking out pretty trees, isn't she?"
At Frank's Nursery and Crafts on Burlington Pike in Florence, Ruth Hervey of Alexandria clutched a handful of traditional ornaments in pink, mauve and burgundy.
"I'm never ready for Christmas," she said. "I keep adding more and more. I'm a sucker for glittery whatever. I've always wanted a Victorian tree. This year I'm doing it."
Mike Smead was at Frank's for what has become an annual trek. "I get all my lights out and invariably there's one old strand that doesn't work any more. So, here I am."
Jordan Gadotti, 5, and his father, Rob, 25, were out to buy a tree and maybe some ornaments and lights. "You have to get a big tree," Jordan said. "Santa has to have a place to put the presents."
Preparing for Hanukkah, which starts today, was no less hectic for Erica Kaufman's family as cookies were being baked and decorated - goodies for small paper Hanukkah bags youngsters Sonia and Noah will give as gifts. It is a family activity to celebrate the Jewish holiday.
"Hanukkah is not a major holiday," Ms. Kaufman said.
"In Israel, where I grew up, you did not even get out of school or off work. Here, in the United States, it's blown out of proportion and that has a lot to do with . . . Christmas being so close and so appealing to the children," she said.
Gifts will be exchanged over the eight days of Hanukkah and other traditions observed - lighting each candle on the Menorah and eating latkes - potato pancakes - and pastries cooked in oil, Ms. Kaufman said.
In Sharonville, Councilman Bill Lewis hopes the white lights on two Christmas trees turn to colored bulbs.
Members of veterans' and civic groups, shoppers and passersby are buying colored lights bulbs at $5 apiece or three for $10 to generate $1,500 to $2,000 to fund design plans for a veterans memorial. About 100 of 500 bulbs had been sold by Saturday, Mr. Lewis said.
"We're using Christmas trees to help us create a place to celebrate another important holiday. Veterans groups in our city have wanted a memorial for a long time," Mr. Lewis said.
![[tree]](/editions/1998/12/13/tree_600x392.jpg)
![[dog]](/editions/1998/12/13/dog_349x550.jpg)