Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

This year we really wanted to continue last year's tradition of finding a tree in the nearby National Forest. Permits for the forest service trees are pretty cheap and it was such an adventure heading out into the great unknown to chop down our tree. That was when I learned that my hubster really is my hero and that sometimes life does mimic the movies (yes I am referring to that moment when I sat in our truck frantically trying to warm my hands and body up while guilt grew and grew in my head over the fact that I abandoned my little boy in the freezing snow, when Phil emerged over the snowy hill carrying the 3 year old in one arm, the chopped down tree over the other arm with the ax dangling on the tip, and the dog running just ahead). So, this year I began to make plans of layering up even more and heading out to find another perfect Charlie Brown tree for our casa. 

As the days grew closer, I grew a little bit anxious about being 32 weeks pregnant and heading up a mountain with a super bumpy ride and no good clothes to bundle up in. We talked it over and decided to head to a Christmas Tree Farm instead. I looked up the list of best tree farms in our area and tried to find the one with the cheapest options. As we drove up, Phil and I chuckled as it was the same tree farm we went to three years ago, the only tree farm we've been to out here! Good thing we really enjoyed it the first time!

 

Everything about the Carnation Tree Farm was wonderful. Since we were pretty late in the U-cut season, apparently, we had to hike back to the very back of the lot to find some Doug Firs in our price range. After playing in bits of leftover snow and almost falling into a frozen pond, Micah spotted the perfect tree! It was already perfect looking: not too bushy, not too perfectly filled in and to top it off, it was only $25! Such a steal! It was also most definitely a lucky tree since it had a cute little left over birds nest in it! That's gotta be lucky, right?! Isn't that part of some ancient folklore somewhere? The nice people at the farm take the tree and put it in their shaker machine, where the nest and other stray forest things fell out. Then they slide the tree through a little netting to wrap it up for easy transportation. I guess it's probably standard practice, yet the process just feels like such a nice extra touch and is totally enthralling to a little kid.

Before leaving, we had to stop by the cute gift shop, splurge on a little 4H girls bake sale item or two (they even had Vegan rice krispy treats!), and sneak a little hi to the big man in red who, of course, gifted Micah with a giant candy cane! It ended up being a super great place to get our tree and now our house really feels ready for the season. Ornaments and lights were up the same day by dinner time.

Micah takes pretty rockin photos!

80% of the ornaments are on the bottom 1/3rd of the tree! haha!

What Christmas Tree/Hanukkah bush traditions do you have? How have they morphed or changed over the years? Do you miss the way things were done when you were a kid? Do you get out all the old ornaments or do you go with a certain theme each year and get all new?