Christmas Tree(otherwise known as not my fault)

Today the family and I went to get a tree.

After using a small fake tree the last few years I insisted on a real tree for this one. David is old enough to enjoy all of it.

So we went to a local farm about 10 miles away from us and it had SO many trees. Most of the other farms around here had small lots, but this one was huge! It was family owned and there were giant St. Brenards. They also had an old fashioned train set the kids could drive. The kids were in love with the place. Unfortunately it was also -400 outside. It was SO cold. Numb hands, faces, toes. Frozen ground. It was sunny but COLD!

After tromping around for eliventybillion years an hour or better we found what seemed like the perfect tree...except it was 10ft tall..so then we found a less perfect tree that was shorter. So by then, the kids were frozen and whining, and so we chopped it down and had the guy help us haul it to the shaker and bailer. After sending it through the bailer(baler?) it was HUGE compared to the other trees waiting to be claimed. I looked at Edwin and he looked at me. We got the tag and found out it was 8 feet tall! So...that 10fter we bypassed was probaly much larger.

We payed for it and then went to put it and those crabby kids in the car. When what to my wondering eyes does appear? A tiny toddler holding protest at the trunk in the rear. Ok, that's cheesy, but it did happen. My 3 year old son declared that under no circumstances was that tree coming home with us. It needed to go back in the field right now! So we put him in his carseat and tried putting our large tree in the trunk. I say tried because we failed. It was wider than our trunks opening. So after some fighting and doubt, I tied it to the roof.

Edwin of course was still annoyed I'd talked him into such a large tree and continued to expound on the largeness all the way home. Probably next Christmas he'll require we get one off a lot or go back to our 4 1/2ft fake one. Oh well, it's worth it!

We got it home in one piece and cut the stump and stuck it in the holder. Then we bought more lights, because an 8ft tall 5ft wide tree needs a lot of lights. By this evening the tree was sparsly decorated and all lit up. I say sparsly because we just don't have enough to cover this tree. It's just an excuse to make decorations. I plan to make a paperchain and a popcorn chain as well as printing out some pictures to make ornaments. We'll fill the tree in no time.

So, after putting it up and joking about cutting the baling(bailing?) being a sceen from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Thankfully it happened in a less dramatic fashion.

We have to find a tree topper but otherwise we're done. Thank goodness!