The Tree...

Like many people our day after Thanksgiving tradition is going to get our Christmas Tree. (Our other tradition is trying to NOT go to one store on that day... But a big thanks to my "die-hard shopper" sister-in-law Becky who beat innocent people down to get a few great things for me anyway... YOU ROCK! )

In our early years of marriage we always went to a tree farm on the Idaho border and had someone else "cut" our tree down. It was easy to find that perfect tree walking up and down aisles and aisles of them But then we discovered we could go to the mountains by OURSELVES and cut down trees there. Thus our day after Thanksgiving tradition...

We have a tall ceiling and we don't want a big bushy tree, but some years we have had what some refer to as "the tallest Charlie Brown tree they have ever seen." They lack that bushiness, we might say... So this year we headed to Montpelier to find a "tall, bushy tree". I always think that snowmobiling through the mountains looking for a tree will be a fabulous family event, which for the most part it is, but each year one (or more) child is bawling because their boots don't fit (1st snow event of the year...), their gloves are falling off, and they need a tissue. (Bawling doesn't help that last one any!) Kenna has been that child for the past three years. She is not a snow girl... nor does she like the cold at all. Even at swimming pools she just hangs out in the hot tub... I guess she's like me! :) So looking for a tree in the middle of the forest is not her favorite thing! (Plus I don't think she liked that she was on MY 4-wheeler, I tipped us last year on our "tree excursion", she held on TIGHT this year.)

Everyone else was happy though, even Poor Jadyn was a good sport considering she looked like the Christmas Story guy. Her snowsuit was too small and she kept falling over... without any bend in her body... just a "timber" right on her face... with her arms still out to the sides! She would just lift her head and call "Daaaaad, Hep". (Good thing she had her helmet on :))

Finding a tree is not as easy as it seems. Trees... aren't perfect. They look good from one side and not so good from others. We putter around on our 4 -wheelers getting off every once in a while to check some out. I found lots that looked great, but I was informed over and over by Shane that, "Those are way too tall... that's illegal" (grumpily by the end.) You can bet he drove all the way home at the exact speed limit... because he is REALLY worried about being LEGAL!! hahaha :) We finally decided on one (and another for Missy and Andy) after HOURS of looking and cut it down. It looked fabulous when it was with all of it's other little "tree friends" but alone... well not quite the same! The front half was OK, but the back... what back? Our tree is now nicely set FLAT against the wall! (But admittedly bushier than last year... if only by a little.) I am sure that our girls will always remember our "tree adventures", they are totally worth it in the end. And our trees are totally us! Not decorated up all fancy, but with ornaments made specially for us by our sweet little girls each year, "souvenir ornaments" from places we have traveled, ornaments from a "handmade ornament exchange" that I was in for years. A hodge podge of all sorts of memories. I love to see "fancy" decorated trees... but this is how I want us to celebrate Christmas... Charlie Brownish or not!

And the final product... tall... but not bushy!

Tree Permit... $10

Gas to Montpelier... (much less than 2 months ago!)

6 hours together in the truck and forest... PRICELESS!!!!