Every year we have an artificial tree that we put in the family room with the mishmash of family ornaments on it. Then we have a live tree we put up in the living room that has a more decorative theme. We try to cut our own trees for the family room, but occasionally resort to getting it from a tree lot, but not this year!
The first weekend in December when we normally cut a tree was raining and bleak and while the weather was predicting a little snow for the following Tuesday it looked like just enough to freeze the ground and make for a good Christmas Tree hunting day the next Saturday.
Well...a snow day and about 8 inches (!) of snow later we decided it was now or never for hunting down a tree. So we headed up into the hill country to our favorite Tree Farm, Van Etten's. To our surprise, the snow was about twice as deep as at our house. Luckily we came prepared with proper snow attire (with the exception of Bryson's pajama pants, but they seem to have universal use for every occasion).
First they take you out to the tree stand on a trailer hooked to a tractor.
Luckily for us, they had cut some paths around the trees with snow mobiles so the snow wasn't so deep to walk on if you stayed on the trails. Since all the trees were covered with more than a foot of snow, it was hard to tell what they looked like. We spotted one right off that looked pretty good.
We brushed off some of the snow being careful not to break any branches because under the snow was a thick layer of ice on all the branches. David and Bryson took a walk around the lot to see if they could spot any better trees while the twins and I staked out this one. While we waited Kadence worked on liberating all the small trees of their snow by brushing them off.
Austin, on the other hand, liberated the snow from the trees one tongueful at a time.
I just love those little brown eyes!
Austin is now licking the tree we picked out.
When Bryson and David returned, Austin and Bryson licked trees while David cut our tree down.
Now to haul it back to the road so the tractor can pick us up.
We threw the tree onto the trailer, and were headed back.
Where the Van Etten's had hot chocolate and cookies waiting for us.
And some bunnies for Kadence and Austin to pet (and hold) and some goats to feed.
David got the tree strapped onto the top of the van and we headed home. It was kind of a crazy day to pick out a tree, but it was well worth it.
