Oh Christmas Tree

We managed our family trek out to a farm this weekend in search of a tree to be adorned and lit up in our living room. We do this each December, and usually at a new farm each time. I'm not too sure why we go to new places each year, I guess my husband just likes to check them all out! This one was at a private family farm, so no commercial stuff like hot chocolate or carols on a loud speaker. Which was okay since it was a warm day anyways! All of the trees were a simple fee of $25, no matter the size or variety. (most commercial-y farms, and there are a lot of nice ones out there, don't get me wrong, charge about $5/foot, and sometimes different varieties of trees are more expensive. Last year, our tree ended up costing us $65! It's ridiculous!)

 We're going on a tree hunt!

 Bryn was encouraging this little sapling by telling it, "don't worry, soon you'll be as tall as me!"  Cute.

Rhys thought this tree felt soft, so he was petting it!

  Abi wasn't feeling the best, but this picture makes me laugh. She is telling the boys that "these trees are lame" whenever they suggested one! haha. Teenagers!  (she was doing it in good fun. really!)

 Could this tree be the one?

This year, we let Kai try to cut the tree down with the little saw the farm provided.  He enjoyed that privilege. He's growing up, after all. 

 Look at that concentration!

 It got a bit hard for him after a while, so Hunny had to take over with the cutting. It was still a good attempt on Kai's part, and he didn't seem too upset.

 How old is our tree? Can anyone count those rings?

Eden helped her father carry the tree to our van!

We hauled that over 6ft tree to our house and after dinner, let the kids go at it! After I put the lights on it first. That's always the first job, and I always do it. The rest we let the kids do. Every year our tree is different, and bright and full of decorations and I love it!

Each year, a different child gets to add the star to the top of the tree, and this year it was Bryn. He needed a bit of help from Daddy though!

Having our tree up and decorated sure gives more Christmas spirit to the home! It was hard having to wait until now to get it. My husband grew up cutting down a tree each year and so we do this tradition with our own children; it's a fun one. I rather like it. I grew up decorating a fake tree because my mom has allergies. So far a live tree doesn't bother our kids or their asthma, thankfully. Either that or we ignore the symptoms!

The plus side to having a fake tree is that you can put it up and decorate on any day. Growing up, our tradition was to put it up on Dec 3rd, just after we celebrated my brother's birthday. It was nice having that to look forward to. So it's hard for me to have to put it off and get a tree when we can fit it into our busy December schedules. The plus side to having a live tree though is that it becomes a family tradition and we do it together. We go out sometimes just our family, sometimes with friends, and we make it fun. One year we had a competition with our friends to see who could cut down their tree faster: us with the hand saw or them with their chain saw. (You can't beat a hand saw!) Another year, we went with my sister and her family and we all got hot chocolate after.

I love family traditions!