Christmas Tree Hunt

For our first 5 Christmases, we always bought a tree permit, made a long drive up past Strawberry Reservoir or out past Toole, and hunted for the perfect tree. Sometimes they weren't so perfect--in fact one year was downright pathetic--but it was fun and often exciting. One year it started snowing quite hard, the wind was blowing, and our car started slipping down and kind of off the side of a hill. The last year we went, Jonah didn't want to get out of the car, Wyatt, only six months, was whining and needed to be fed so Max did the hunting and cutting himself. Last year we gave up and went tree hunting at Harmon's grocery store. We even took pictures.

This year, I think we found a good mix for the age of our family. We went to a local tree farm, only ten minutes away. It was $30 for ANY size pine or $40 for ANY size fir. Since we have a vaulted ceiling, we decided to go big. After walking around a bit, we found a beautiful 10 footer. Once we cut our tree and started dragging it to the parking area, an employee came and helped us drag it the rest of the way. Then, they put it on the shaker--probably the most entertaining part. Then, for $1 they wrapped it in netting and strapped it to our roof for us. Then--can you believe it could get any better?--when we went to pay, there were cookies, cider, and candy canes in the little cashier shed. We will definitely be returning next year.

We've never had cows on any of our previous tree-hunting trips

the winner (Also, this was almost a month ago and Max has been growing this beard ever since. I'll have to post a photo of that too.)

Wyatt stopped at this tree and said, "This is a good one!" He hasn't even seen A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The tree shaker.