thrill of the hunt

The day following Thanksgiving, we went to Idaho for our annual Christmas tree hunt. That's right- in the W family, the only shopping we do on Black Friday is Christmas tree shopping.

I'd take the mountains and fresh air over a crowded mall any day!

In years past, we have always gone with Ronnie, Nan and their boys. Oh, and we can't forget Joe, Bop's mechanic. . .what would we do without Joe and his trusty chainsaw? This year, we were excited to have Chris and Amy's family join us. Kelsey and her Grams also came (Uncle Shawn didn't think crutches would traverse the mountain so well). We had so much fun!

Chris and Sadie

The W bunch was a little bit slower at finding our tree. Christmas tree shopping is very important. . .you can't just go and chop down just any old tree. In addition, our ceilings aren't very tall, so while everyone else can cut down the first 15 ft. tree they see, we only need about 7 feet! Have you ever tried to find the perfect 7.5 in a forest of giants? Let me tell you, it's a little bit tricky. I kept trying to talk Joe into scaling one of the really nice 80 foot trees and cutting the top off for me, but he didn't think that was very environmentally friendly.

After a while of hunting, we took a break for a picnic. Grams kept Emmy nice and toasty while they lunch. We love Grams!

After much teasing by my brothers, we W's carried on in search of our perfect tree.

When we saw this baby, we knew it was the one. In fact, I'm quite positive I heard angels singing. If you'll look closely at this picture, you can see the beams of light descending from heaven.

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

(Didn't you hear that?)

Joe and Courtney chopped the tree. (Okay, so maybe a chainsaw was involved.)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

This is my kind of day-after-Thanksgiving shopping.