A Christmas Tradition

We buy real trees.  Always have.  In many ways, it's completely ridiculous, not to mention messy.  For a logical list of reasons why, you can check here.   But the "real" reason is just because I love it.  One of my favorite Christmas activities has always been heading out into the forest (actually a "choose and cut" farm, we're not that rustic), picking our tree, and sawing the thing down.

When I was a child, my dad and I would go in his completely-restored, green 1954 Chevrolet pickup truck.  I loved feeling once a year like I was in a Norman Rockwell painting.  Now we just take Hubby's regular old truck, but it's still a fun family activity.




So last weekend, we headed to Goddard Tree Farm to find our tree and bring it home.  It's a good thing last year's hats and mittens still fit because it was cold outside.  We saw a few "Charlie Brown trees" and a few "monster tall" trees.  The kids chased each other around and around the trees while Hubby and I haggled over size and shape.  You see, he's concerned with things like "How heavy is this thing?  How straight is the trunk?  Living room or dining room?" and so on while I just want the "perfect" tree.  Finally we settled on the right one to bring home and sawed him down.  My son seems to have acquired the innate need all men have to stand and observe other men doing work.  Sigh...  My daughter was right there hitching up her sleeves to help a guy out though.  Push, sister!

Once the tree was hauled home, it turns out that he was too big for our dining room, a good spot for the kids because they tend to leave it alone there.  Soooo, we set him up right in the living room and hoped for the best.  So far, the "best" is a semi-permanent ornament triage in which Hubby the super glue ninja must repair 2-3 ornaments a day!  Praying for my own sanity to get me through the next month.

Merry Christmas from my crazy to yours!