Of course, on this day we drove over to the tree farm, because we wanted to bring home a tree!
Matt and I don't give a flip about Christmas trees, so we let the children be in charge utterly. We have enough taste that Will's preferred choices always get the side-eye (she's of the super fat tree persuasion, whereas Matt and I are lean tree people), but if the kid wants a super fat tree, then the kid can get a super fat tree... if she can convince her sister of the same, that is.
And she can!
New this year--we brought a saw, so that the kids could cut down our tree, as well:
Syd got over-excited and waved down the tree guy prematurely, so he basically got to hang out with us for twenty minutes while the kids did this, verrrrrrrry slowly:
Fortunately, in this town there's always stuff to talk about for twenty minutes: the neighborhood that you live in, neighborhoods that you used to live in, university gossip, the universally unpopular parking meter installation, the mayor's announcement that he's not going to run for another term (because of his universally unpopular parking meter installation, we all agree), etc.
Finally, though, after many years of work, the kids get the tree sawed through, the tree guy hauls it to the barn, and it's trimmed, shaken, never flocked, and baled while the kids and Matt have complimentary popcorn and hot chocolate, and then we take it home and put it up and the kid can pose in front of it on her way to Nutcracker rehearsal:
There are just Christmas toys and books (and one forgotten lunch plate, it looks like...) underneath it right now, but soon there will be presents!
I forgot that places let you cut down your own tree! I think we did that a few times when we were kids.
ReplyDeleteWe just picked up a small live Norfolk Pine to use as our Christmas tree. Once the holidays are over, I think we might have to make an indoor fairy garden with the tree as part of it. The place we got the tree had the cutest little fairy garden accessories. And, this same place sells plants perfect for a terrarium and I happen to have scored a huge jar from Salvation Army for $3!
I LOVE the idea of a live tree! I tried it a couple of times, but the dry indoor air and my lazy watering always seemed to kill it before spring. It's something that I want to try again when the kids are all grown up and out of the house.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to convince Emma to get something bigger and more established (but not very Christmas tree looking), but she really wanted something that looked like a Christmas tree. We bought one a few years ago, but Jared forgot to water it when she and I were out of town and it died.
ReplyDeleteMe? I would have picked something that made me think of warm sunny beaches. Is it Spring yet?
I am REALLY looking forward to our first spring in our new house!
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