Cutting down our Christmas tree

Cutting down your own Christmas tree in the woods . . . sounds like a wonderful dream . . . wish it was. I'm glad we did it, but would have done a few things differently looking back on the experience.

We headed out all bundled up yesterday morning to go buy our permit and cut down our tree in the forest. We ended up driving a little longer than planned because of a mistake reading the map (oops). Sage and Molly were both fussy . . . not exactly the day we had planned. We'll do a little more research next year before we try this again.

When we finally found the place the forest ranger recommended, we got out and hiked about a half a mile in and found our tree.

In the end, we have a cute tree that Tom cut down for us and a story to tell about it. It was a little bit of a challenge to find a perfect tree in the woods. They all grow so close together that there is not room for the branches to grow out. Our tree is not the same as one we would find on a christmas tree lot, but it has character and we love it. After some research on-line, Tom found out that it's an Aspen fir. The branches are not very thick and can't hold a lot of weight, so we decided to go with a Disney theme and use only Disney ornaments. (Yes, we have enough . . . what a surprise.) I have to get a new tree top as the lights are not working on the one we have and it's a little heavy for our tree this year. Other than that, our tree is up and decorated.

We also set up the train and Sage loves it! It was cute to watch Molly crawl around after it when we had it set up in the middle of the living room. :)