Sunday, November 30, 2008

old time christmas tree farm!

I'm convinced that unless you have serious allergies, everyone on earth should create a family tradition of hiking out, choosing and cutting down your own Christmas tree! DK and I had a blast and it was everything we hoped it would be and more.

Old Time Christmas Tree Farm is far enough out (from where we live inside the loop) that it felt like a big trip, long drive. We loaded up the dogs (I'm watching Katie, my brother's dog who now resides with my brother's in-law's - Ma and Pa Olden) and headed out, still giddy with excitement. 

Once we arrived, DK , Katie and I adhered to instructions of the lady at the gate and chose a measuring stick, a saw and then loaded up on the the hay wagon. (Kenai had to stay in the car because she's a little less predictable in large crowds) Everyone is bustling about, trees being prepared by workers to load on top of the SUV's, photos taken with Santa, everyone in great moods and so friendly. I think the sudden chill in the air was helpful too - Christmas tree festivities are just odd in warm weather? Heehee.

The hay wagon took us out so far amidst the forest of trees and then dropped us off. "Everybody off, dogs too!" the driver yells with a chuckle. He was quite a character, I'll tell you what. And then we hiked out inspecting trees: the shape, the height, the fullness. I was surprised to see so many in tact after Ike! Katie was dashing around, making friends and playing with kids. I loved too that never once did it feel too crowded or even competitive in selecting a tree. Either it was the people or just the amount of trees and variety available. Maybe both? :)

We chose a couple trees but finally came upon the one that we knew would be ours. It had all the right everything and DK got to sawing away. He loaded it up on his shoulder and we headed back to the trail to wait for the hay wagon. It was an awesome experience and we will for sure go back next year! 
From there we went to Hobby Lobby to get ornaments (you'd be proud of DK's color coordination) and other supplies. Everything was 50% off too - thanks David and Elizabeth Anderson for the great idea!

We came back to DK's place - what an adventure getting that tree up the stairs, (!!) put some dinner in the crock pot and turned on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation while we decorated the tree. I think we agreed this will become another tradition as well... 

So now my question is: When are you going to cut down your tree??

3 comments:

Suz said...

oh how cool! When we were kids, my parents took us out to the tree farm. Now that we're adults, it's pretty much all fake trees. That's primarily my brother's fault for marrying a woman with severe allergies. (If only I wasn't crazy about her, too!!) My hubs and I went to a really cool tree farm called "Home Depot" to buy a real tree our first and second married Christmases, and I'm missing it a lot this year. Now I just go smell the trees at stores... cuz that's not sad. :-)

Sarah Taylor said...

Um...dont judge me that my tree is artificial

Andrea Himmelsehr said...

Fake tree- 6 years old- it's starting to lean a little this year. We can't do real trees cuz the cats will eat the needles and throw them up all over the house (inevitably at 2 in the morning... ewwwww). But I have to tell you that you have become my little treat each day- I come to this site hoping you've updated it so I can once again peer into your fun, exciting, normal, happy life. Thanks for sharing all that you do! I even found myself referring to you as "My friend Liz" the other day to my mom.