Its so fun having my brother here during the holidays, its been really nice to have him along for all our adventures. Today we bundled up and headed out to Hagg's tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. It was extra special for me, because this is the very same tree farm that Mike and I went to with our parents when we were little. I have been bringing my family out here for about 4 years, and hopefully my kids will have the same fond memories of this place that I do from my childhood!
We found a place to park and headed up the hill to start the search for the perfect tree. I took this picture of Mike, and had to chuckle...he is never far from his phone!
We walked up and down and over and back and all around...I tend to be very picky about finding the perfect tree. There were lots of contenders, but they all seemed either too bushy or too tall. They had told us that we could high stump the tree, but this one that Killian found was a little extreme!
After wandering for what felt like hours, we finally found a tree that we all agreed on, somewhat out of desperation. It definitely wasn't perfect, but we claimed it as our own and took a family picture:
Then the guys set to work cutting it down, while the kids took over the important task of supervising:
We hadn't realized that going on during the weekday meant we would have to schlep our own tree, but luckily we didn't have to go far before some workers drove by in a pickup and took the tree down the hill for us:
A close up of cute little Rowan in uncle Mike's hat. Sometimes I look at her and can not believe how fast she is growing up. Sniff.
We drove down to meet the tree at the barn, and after the guys tied it on the roof, we went in to check out the animals and get ornaments. The animals were up first, and of course we had to fork over a few quarters so the kids could feed those starving goats.
This goat was totally trying to convince us of his absolute and complete hunger by licking up every possible crumb on Killian's hand:
He always tries to deny it, but Matthew loves goats. He cant pretend anymore, because I have photographic evidence!!
It never fails that once we get the tree home, we discover that its too tall for our short 8 foot ceilings. This year was no exception, we had to cut about a foot off of the bottom of the tree before we could get it in the house! The kids took turns cutting the bailing string off:
And then it was on to decorating! After Matthew and I strung up the lights, Rowan got to put the star on the top for the first time. She was really excited about that, as usually its Killian's job but since she is getting older they are going to start alternating years:
We hung most of the ornaments up next, we didn't use the ball ornaments this year for fear that our tree wrecking kitten would break them all. Still, the kids were thrilled with the final result:
The tree adds such a wonderful holiday feeling, I just love having it lit in the corner, softly glowing and smelling so good. It definitely helps us all get in the Christmas spirit, and excited about the coming weeks!!
We found a place to park and headed up the hill to start the search for the perfect tree. I took this picture of Mike, and had to chuckle...he is never far from his phone!
We walked up and down and over and back and all around...I tend to be very picky about finding the perfect tree. There were lots of contenders, but they all seemed either too bushy or too tall. They had told us that we could high stump the tree, but this one that Killian found was a little extreme!
After wandering for what felt like hours, we finally found a tree that we all agreed on, somewhat out of desperation. It definitely wasn't perfect, but we claimed it as our own and took a family picture:
Then the guys set to work cutting it down, while the kids took over the important task of supervising:
We hadn't realized that going on during the weekday meant we would have to schlep our own tree, but luckily we didn't have to go far before some workers drove by in a pickup and took the tree down the hill for us:
A close up of cute little Rowan in uncle Mike's hat. Sometimes I look at her and can not believe how fast she is growing up. Sniff.
We drove down to meet the tree at the barn, and after the guys tied it on the roof, we went in to check out the animals and get ornaments. The animals were up first, and of course we had to fork over a few quarters so the kids could feed those starving goats.
This goat was totally trying to convince us of his absolute and complete hunger by licking up every possible crumb on Killian's hand:
He always tries to deny it, but Matthew loves goats. He cant pretend anymore, because I have photographic evidence!!
It never fails that once we get the tree home, we discover that its too tall for our short 8 foot ceilings. This year was no exception, we had to cut about a foot off of the bottom of the tree before we could get it in the house! The kids took turns cutting the bailing string off:
And then it was on to decorating! After Matthew and I strung up the lights, Rowan got to put the star on the top for the first time. She was really excited about that, as usually its Killian's job but since she is getting older they are going to start alternating years:
We hung most of the ornaments up next, we didn't use the ball ornaments this year for fear that our tree wrecking kitten would break them all. Still, the kids were thrilled with the final result:
The tree adds such a wonderful holiday feeling, I just love having it lit in the corner, softly glowing and smelling so good. It definitely helps us all get in the Christmas spirit, and excited about the coming weeks!!
