Tree-mendous

Last Saturday we drove the truck up to Heber to go with our friends, The Posts, on a tree hunt. They had waited in line a few months back to get a permit for all of us to cut down our own Christmas tree in the mountains. When I heard about this event I was ecstatic. Who hasn't dreamed of hiking through a forest filled with snow with your family in search of the perfect Christmas tree, cutting it down, and hauling it home to decorate the fresh pine and sip hot cocoa? It seemed like a real old-fashioned Christmas thing to do,  and my lumberjack of a husband was beyond thrilled about it. 

You think it would be easy to pick a tree in the great outdoors, but there were so many to choose from. You would see one in the distance that you thought had just the right shape that you liked, and then as you got closer you would realize it was 13 feet tall and wouldn't fit in your living room.

Finally, we found a winner...Preston cut it down...Hauled it down the mountain...Henry mostly ran around with this stick in his hand and stomped in the snow...James was just trying to stay warm...After the trees were loaded in the trucks and our insides were filled with a warm lunch with the Posts, we headed for home with our tree. It fits perfectly in the stand, is decorated beautifully (although Henry rearranges the ornaments daily), and smells so fresh and Christmasy.

My handy-man of a husband even decided to make the remains of the stump into a candle holder all by himself...he's never been so crafty!I've always had a love for real Christmas trees (despite our trials with one last year), but after our adventure this year I'm thinking my standards are set even higher....I no longer want just a real Christmas tree, I want to cut one fresh from the forest.