let the holidays begin!

 

After a super fun Thanksgiving at Uncle Caleb and Aunt Haylee's house, it was time to venture into the woods for our annual Christmas Tree Hunt!  The kids were so excited (See!  Look at Emmy- doesn't she look excited?  And oh, by the way- Claire lost a tooth!).  We were already in Idaho, heading up into the hills when I decided to call our pediatrician to take a look at Sam (Look!  Doesn't he look sick?).  Turns out, he only had one appointment left and so I left my poor little family in the woods (not alone, of course!) whilst I took him to the doctor.  Courtney was quite worried about picking out a tree without me, and even Aunt Kelsey wondered if it could be done without me there listening for angels (I can always hear angels singing when we spot "the" tree).  Alas, they made do without me and came home with a tree.

 

Here's the report:  Emmy complained that it was boring, there was no snow this year, and her foot hurt.  Claire didn't like the pizza we took for lunch, it was cold.  Ryenne thought it took an awful lot of hiking, and she had to do my job since I wasn't there, but it was a whole lot quicker without me because I always take sooo long.  Courtney was quite apprehensive about the final choice, but said it was the best there was considering our height requirements (we don't have a lot to work with), and figured if nothing else, we could put the tree in question on our front porch and pick out another one at the tree lot.

 

I'm sure by now you can see why this is such a successful tradition at our house.  Everyone loves it.  Really!  (I'm beginning to realize just really how traditions work.  At the time, it sometimes feels chaotic and maybe not so much fun, but then the we all look back with fond memories and say, "Remember when we. .  .?  That was so much fun!"  or "Remember how such and such was a complete disaster?  That was hilarious!"   In fact, sometimes the worse it feels when it is actually happening, the better the memories.  Kind of funny, eh?) 

 

 

 

Well, when it was all said and done we decided the tree was a keeper!  It even got decorated that very night, which was a rather smooth process all things considered.  We listened  (and the girls danced, of course) to Christmas music, took turns hanging ornaments, and dad even stayed sane the entire time.  Perfect!  We wrapped up the night with the traditional slumber party around the Christmas tree and wondered what Samuel would do when he saw the magic for the first time the next morning. 

 

 

 

Hooray!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!