Speaking of Christmas decorations:  look at this Sycamore tree.  It has dropped all its leaves, and all that's left are the seed pods hanging on like ornaments on a Christmas tree.  Hold onto your hat!  Each one of those seed pods has about 50 seeds in it.  If they all germinated, the world would be covered in Sycamore trees.  Of course they don't all germinate, but don't they look neat hanging on the branches.  

 

The other cool thing about Sycamores is their exfoliating bark.  If you look up into the top of the tree, you can see stark white branches poking up into the winter sky.  I hope you see some in your travels.

 

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!