Oh Christmas Tree!

Today we got our Christmas tree and it was wonderful from the moment we woke up until the moment the kids went to sleep.  :)

We decided to go to a different farm closer to home this year, because they also advertised bathrooms and hot drinks...always a plus!

It's been really wet this week and we discovered just how difficult that makes the whole process. From the saw not wanting to move through the trunk, to hauling a waterlogged 8+ foot tree through the mud (the man estimated my tree weighed between 150 and 200 pounds!!!) to having the house smell like muddy field instead of fresh-cut tree, it really made the difference! But, what with the donuts, coffee, excited children, wind-and-rain-blown hairdos and general adventure of the whole experience it only made the day that much more memorable in the end!

The trees at this farm were really gorgeous! We considered this one right off the bat, but there were a couple dead spots...

  

The Bowlings are doing one tree in the playroom and one tree in the entryway . It took no time at all to find the playroom tree!

They were concerned it would fall and smoosh Auntie/Momma

He really does like being bigger than A Whole Entire Tree!

  

Just like literally every other place I've ever been in this state....GORGEOUS.  

Really hard to capture in pictures today though...the sun kept coming out for 20 seconds at a time, lighting up the landscape, and then disappearing again.

Our next favorite. I really liked this one! We have a tendency to get a tree that's WAY too wide. I thought this one was delightful and trim. So did Caiden. Rebecca Did Not.

The boys took themselves off on an expedition. Seriously, they ended up so far away we had to holler them back. Melissa and I decided that when they're 16 or so, we're putting them in charge of tree-getting while we sit home and drink tea and sort the decorations.  :D

Rebecca was in charge of carrying the saw. Which, of course, means testing out the saw. This is the tree we ended up taking home!

I still haven't decided what kind of farm I want. Maybe I need at least 5 or so acres of Christmas trees (in addition to my apples, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, hops, greenhouses, and homestead animals, of course!). Could anyone stand here and honestly *not* want to put up a home?

For some reason, the boys were so cooperative about pictures today! The girls were really just not. :P  Here they are looking all handsome and stuff. 

And here I am, crouched in the still-very-wet mud with water raining off the tree into my hair and eyes, wondering why this seemed so much easier last year! We hadn't put two and two together about the waterlogging yet. :P

I put on a pretty good show.

Evie was totally there too, see? Except quite a bit of the time she was in my jacket snuggled up tight. Hard to get pictures. :)

Evie and Jack checking out their Tree #2 after it came down. 

Thank goodness this man came along just in time! After cutting the tree down, I hauled it out of the field and through the mud back to the car. I was just pondering how on EARTH I was going to get nearly 200 pounds of tree hoisted up on the car...when Ta Da! Saved!

Because otherwise I would have been dragging it down the road all the way back to the farmstand. Seriously, I don't think I could have gotten it up on the car! As it was, just dragging it out of the field caked the branches with 1/4 inch of sticky mud. I think I'm in for quite the filthy carpet once this dries out and drops the dirt off!

  

Captivating. 

This kind of tree makes me want to come back with a book and a cup of coffee and climb on up for the day.  :)

Melissa got her tree up! 

I have NO idea how this tree managed to look so small once it was bundled! It was so heavy it dented the top of my roof in (it bounced back out after we took the tree off though!). I tied it down (myself!) every which way I could and we made it home safely. 

  

My big man helping me unwrap the tree. We were going to wait for Uncle to come and help us put it up...but waiting is so hard! Let me just toot my own horn here for a sec. On top of cutting the tree down, hauling it out of the field, tying it to the car, and dragging it in to the house, I rearranged the living room furniture (twice!), chopped off about ten bottom branches with a bread knife, got that sucker in it's base, upright, and decorated, all in one afternoon! Yeah, I'm sore. But it was so worth it! 

Okay, upright does NOT necessarily mean Straight Upright. Here are the kids abandoning me to my plight to watch TV cause this is taking forever!

Time to decorate.  :D

I don't know about you, but she looks so much bigger to me this year. 

Lights on, no ornaments yet!

We went to get a few more ornaments, and I let them each pick out a special one just for them. Caiden chose a green train, and Rebecca chose a dove of peace. I got all misty-eyed thinking about packing *their* ornaments up for them when they're all grown up and moving out. We have a lot of years between then and now though, but it was so nice to start a tradition and know they will have that there for them, just like I did when I moved out.

It never takes long for my moods to rub off on my daughter. Here she is tucked in a corner getting all sentimental about how beautiful the tree is. :)

Lights Off

Lights On. Trust me when I say my camera sucks and it is actually one of the best, most beautiful trees I've ever had. 

Trying to get them to pose in front of the tree. Yeah right.  :P

My pretty girl!

This was really the only way she was interested in posing. Oh the joys of a Kindergartner!

This got re-shuffled in the order, I don't really know how to move it back up to where it belongs. But doesn't he look so grown up? I swear he's grown two inches since his birthday already.

Merry December to everyone!