picking out our tree

What a fun seasonal experience we had today! We had promised Dennis that we could put up the tree today, and our poor artificial tree that dates back to the year of our wedding wasn't going to make it through another year (especially not with Dennis yanking on it). We perused trees at Wal-Mart and found a gorgeous artificial one that we would love to have and may consider buying if it is drastically reduced after Christmas. Their real trees were $25 and $35 but were wrapped up in netting and you couldn't see the tree. I had been calling a local tree farm to try and get an idea of their prices but couldn't ever get anyone on the phone. We decided to head there anyway and were delighted at what we found! Dennis had a wonderful time running through the trees with other children and playing with the farm dog. We found a gorgeous Virginia pine marked $20 and Dennis got to watch as they cut it for us, loaded it onto a trailer, pulled it to the barn, shook it, wrapped it, and loaded it onto the car. We enjoyed shopping and bought an ornament, and we also enjoyed some free hot cocoa and candy canes, and they gave Dennis a coloring and activity book. The weather was gorgeous and it was just nice to be outside. I can't remember if I've ever in my life been to a tree farm before, and I loved it as much as Dennis did (though I didn't cry when we left like he did).

The tree is home now and poor David struggled with it to get it in the stand (which is why we are still considering an artificial tree purchase). Our house smells heavenly! Dennis helped us bring in the boxes of tree trimmings from the storage building, and he would have happily unpacked each box if we'd let him. He thought everything was a toy! Unfortunately, we had no working strands of lights, so no decorating happened tonight. He was happily distracted by looking at and playing with the special ornaments his Gigi bought for him and by putting up his own tree in his room and decorating it. Perhaps we'll get to decorate tomorrow!