December in Florida

 We waited the 120 days to pick our bananas!  Did you know they never ripen on the tree;  you have to pick them and then wait for them to lighten in color to eat them?!  The bloom begins right up close to the bananas and then keeps gaining length as  it looses petals.  It is very cool!

 We brought our bunch in to wait for it to ripen!

 Each banana is about 6" long and there are 18 of them.

 Bill had a great idea...

 The Maple trees are getting their color.  We did have one night of freezing temperatures (32F) and that was just enough to trigger the bit of red to the leaves and for the trees to drop their leaves.

 This one has a bit more of the reddish brown foliage.

 The ground is pretty under the tree, too.

 See ALL the color?!

 But overall, the pond lawn doesn't look too different from the rest of the year!

 We do have color for December in the East Palatka Holly trees-the red berries are very festive on this 'always green' tree.

Lots of berries that are ripe just in time for the first Northern Robins to arrive....any day now!

If we do not get too many more freezing temperatures, we will be getting another bunch of bananas in a few months!  (See how close the bloom is to the bananas...the stalk will just keep growing down several feet from the fruit)