Christmas Tree Hunting

In my family it is tradition to go to a tree farm and "hunt" for a tree. Of course, we cut it down with a saw rather than shoot it.... In New Mexico we did something different almost every year for trees. The first year I gathered some dead yucca stalks from our front yard and set them up in a box weighted with rocks, decorated them with some red & green raffia ribbons & a few ornaments. The next year we went with a similar approach, but a slight upgrade - the century plant stalk. So lovely! I think that's my favorite. By the third Christmas in New Mexico I was longing for the scent of a pine tree, but I was due to give birth (to Simon) on November 27, so "hunting" for a tree around that time of year was a bad idea. Instead, we bought one from the grocery store parking lot - pre-cut and wrapped in twine, so we didn't even really know what it was going to look like. The next year we were ready to really hunt - Simon was a year old and came with us in a frame backpack. We bought our permit from the forest service, drove to a spot in the Gila National Forest that we thought might have a good selection, and trekked around till we found a tree that approximately met the criteria for our ($5) permit. Our 5th and final Christmas there we also went to the woods to cut one, but we got the broad-criteria ($10) permit that allowed us any kind of tree under a certain height & trunk diameter.

This year I was thrilled to go back to the land of nostalgia and tree farms. We went with my parents to a place they knew of where you cut your own tree from within a large area of options and regardless of how big or small the tree, it cost $18. UNLESS you brought a church bulletin with you - then your tree cost $15. I love Grand Rapids. :)

Of course we brought our bulletin with us. And, since our current temporary home has more square footage than we need anyway and lovely tall ceilings, we decided to go for a big one. We figured it was the only year we'll probably ever be able to get a really huge tree, so why not?

Here's a sampling of photos from the first part of the day:

Us in front of a medium-large tree we almost selected but didn't...but probably should have

Simon "helping" Grandpa saw down the tree

Grandma Lizzy surprised us with a thermos of hot chocolate and a box full of doughnuts with "sprinklers" on top. We were all grateful, but Simon had the best facial reaction. What's it like to be (almost) three and so energetically expressive?

Lumberjack Adam, looking cute & scruffy

The rest of my pictures from the tree hunt here, although if you don't want to go through the whole album there will be another post or two for the next few phases of the tree hunting day.