Last year was our first year cutting down our tree. I loved it. It was perfect winter weather, the tree farm was amazing, and only 20 dollars for a tree. We had a blast.
But, because we moved in the summer, we had to find a new place to get our tree.
It's been so busy this December. I keep wanting/trying to slow it down but it keeps speeding on by.
And because it's been so busy, we had to squeeze in tree cutting time. We decided last week that we'd pull the kids out of school an hour early on Friday and get our tree then spend the afternoon decorating.
Friday came. And it was cold. Like 20 degrees plus gusts of wind cold. But, we bundled up and went on our way. Because it was Friday, we could only find one tree farm open (the rest were weekends only or by prior appointment) It looked like a promising place. An animal petting area, free hot cider and several kinds of trees.
We were given a sled, a saw and a dog who decided to join us. We were warned that they were "in transition" this year.
I should have taken more pictures. Because apparently what "in transition" meant was no trees. I mean, there were some like 6 inch trees. Some 3 ft trees. And some 20 foot trees. But no good house trees.
I was disappointed. I so wanted this year to be as fun as last year. If we didn't get a tree that afternoon, it would be another week before we could. So we decided to check out the trees they had pre-cut. If you cut a tree yourself it was 35$ and if you bought a pre-cut tree it was . . . 35$ ?! Okay. So the wind is blowing, it's freezing and we walk along the fence to pick out our tree. We find one and while the young man helping us gets ready to make a fresh cut on the trunk he tells the kids there's hot cider in the barn. Well, the young man couldn't get his chainsaw started (chainsaw? There were a thousand saws all around.) We tell him not to worry, we'll make a fresh cut when we get home. I go in the barn to get the kids, they're trying to figure out how to work the hot cider carafe. Oh, it's empty. : /
We get the tree on the van - Kev tips him 10 dollars for helping us in the cold and we're on our way. With our 45 dollar tree we picked out from a fence. :sigh:
The tree is fine. It looks fine. It smells fine. But, we didn't hunt for the perfect tree and cut it down and haul it home and . . . well.
It's ok. Last year was fun. And memorable. The whole season was. We baked a ton, made ornaments, had a blast, took it slow. Trying to recreate that just isn't happening. We're 12 days away and I've done barely any baking, our tree experience wasn't what I hoped, there's so much work and shopping to be done.
I know I'll look back on this year fondly too. I'll laugh about the tiny trees and the gusts of wind. You can't really force moments or memories. They just happen. And this year will just bring different kinds of memories than last year.
We did have fun getting the tree up and decorating it. My 11 year old is incapable of taking a normal picture.
Yeah, it was still a good time.
1 comment:
Aaaaawwwww, this is a great blog! And I love the pictures. I'm sorry it wasn't as perfect as last year, but you are right--next year, this one will be special too.
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