O (real) Christmas Tree

We went to the Whispering Pines tree farm on Saturday to pick out our first real Christmas tree. It was bitterly cold, but at least it was not snowing or raining. The kids were really excited to get taken to the trees because horses pulled us the whole way. Jack didn't even want to get off, and then when he did get off, he wandered away from us toward some smaller trees. I thought, Hey, what a cute picture that is! and snapped away. Little did I know I documented my son standing shin deep in a humongous puddle hidden by snow and ice.

He was so mad! I felt bad for him because I knew it was about 28 degrees outside and we hadn't even looked at any trees yet. I carried him for a little bit and then we started seriously looking at trees so we could find one quickly before Jack started losing toes. We finally found one we thought would fit nicely in our house. It wasn't too tall but was round, which is what I wanted. I didn't want a skinny tree. Adam cut it down and we took it to the wagon to be carried back to the front, where they shook and baled it for us. Oh, and Jack also fell in a snow ditch on the way to the horses. He had a tough day! We went to the little cabin and got some free cocoa, but skipped out on the free hot dogs and smores because it was really busy and poor Jack was freezing, even indoors. We got to the car and took his socks and shoes off and his poor feet were red and ice cold so I held them while we drove and put his socks on the vent to dry off.

After the kids took naps, we set up the tree. We had to cut a little more off once we got home because the trunk was curved a little and the tree kept falling over. Once we had it up, though, we decorated it with the ornaments (shatterproof ones!) the kids picked out at Target. They each put up one ornament and then decided they were done.

Olivia put on her pink ornament and then decided she was too cold to continue, so she sat on the couch with her Trader Joe's kettle corn and watched me do the rest. Jack thought he was being helpful by taking the ornaments Adam was trying to put hooks on.It was a fun experience, although it was really cold and Olivia kept asking where the farm was (we kept explaining that it was a tree farm and there were no animals). I think next year we'll have just as much fun decorating a fake tree in the warmth of our own home... or maybe we'll live somewhere that doesn't believe in snow (cross my fingers!) and then we'll get another real tree when I'm not freezing!