Sunday, November 30, 2008

Oh Christmas Tree...

The day after Thanksgiving, we did a little Christmas shopping and then we went to get our tree. We love having a tree as long as possible, so since we've been married, we have always tried to get our tree as early as possible. The last couple of years, we bought our trees at Home Depot. This year we were talking with the Turpin's and they told us about Triadelphia Farm, where you can go to cut down your own tree. We thought it would be fun to try it out so we set out in our trusty Hyundai to Clarksville...

The closer we got to the farm, the more beautiful the scenery became. We pulled into the field and were immediately surrounded by hills covered in trees. We asked the man where to go and he pointed us out back by the stable and so we grabbed a cart and a saw and headed up the hill.
Logan immediately began picking up sticks and collecting them. He sure was fun to watch. He loves being outside. The weather was perfect, the sky was clear and there was no wind, but it was still quite cold, but ideal for tree hunting.
We found a few finalists, but settled on a bushy, tall douglas fir. I figured we could trim the top to make it fit in the apartment.
Here we all are cutting down our tree, Amber is great at taking these:)
Once the tree was down, I pulled it up onto the cart and we all headed down the hill to pay for it.
They had a couple of really cool contraptions that I had never seen before: A tree shaker that was basically a oscillating stand that vibrated all of the dead needles, branches and hopefully, all of the bugs off of it. Next they had a cool stand welded above a drill that put in a perfectly angled hole for the stand. After that they bailed it and threw it on top of the car. All in all, it was a little more money than our Home Depot. tree but worth the cool experience and the sweet tree.
Here is this year's spread of ornaments. We added a few this year. LAST YEARS TREE. We put the lights on that night, this year we put a few strings of LED lights on, they give the tree some good color.
Here is a pic of Logan putting some ornaments on the tree. Here is a link for last year's tree.
One of Logan's favorite ornaments is the Buzz Lightyear astro blaster from last year, he put that one on last.
Addy enjoyed the music and the lights. It is strange to think about this being her first Christmas with us. Last year at this time, we had just learned her gender.
Here the family working together to decorate the tree.

I did my best to reach the top branches. Below are some of this year's additions.
We ordered one of these for Logan after he was born and thought it was only right to get one for Addy too. Especially cool since this was her first year to go to Disneyland.
This year an elf brought Logan this cool Darth Vader ornament in honor of his epic duel with the Sith Lord...
I picked this one up in Korea this year, I thought it was perfect for our tree.
We picked this one up in California when we visited Jason, Janet and the kids and went to see the Muir Woods.
This is our Disneyland ornament for the year, It is from this last trip where we went trick-or-treating there. Logan Addy and their Aunt Joceylyn had a blast running around the park getting candy.
Last of all is this year's White house ornament. I thought it was especially pretty this year and had too pick it up. Well, I hope you all enjoyed our tree as much as we do. So far this Christmas is going great and we are all excited to start our count down tomorrow!

11 comments:

Kellie said...

I love your ornament collection. I'm glad this was such a fun day for you all!

Donna said...

Wow, what a great memory making experience! And, a beautiful tree that I can smell from here! I so love your ornament tradition--thanks for sharing them and the whole experience with us! Love these blogs!

Danielle said...

Your tree is awesome! I would love to go out and chop one down for Christmas. Happy Holidays!

Benjamin said...

Chopping down trees is the coolest! Hopefully there will be a snowstorm this week and we can get our tree! But with Global Warming who knows!!! Great pics! We love and miss you guys can't wait for Febtober!!!

Cami said...

Very cool! I'm glad you guys enjoyed picking out your own tree. It looks great!

audreyspencer said...

Nothing better than cutting down your own Christmas Tree. It's a lot prettier than the pinion pine "bushes" we have here. I finally got a fake tree because we can never find a nice one.

Jenni said...

So fun!! I love all your ornaments! The little Minnie Mouse ears for Addy is adorable!!:)

Brenda said...

Looks like you had fun! Thanks for the idea, your hubby gave it to Brian the other day. (:

Corinne said...

Get out of town! I have a Santa Pez Dispenser ornament on my tree too! As well as, of course, Lightening McQueen :)

Jason & Claire said...

What a fun tradition. I loved reading this. You look beautiful in the Thanksgiving picture too.

By the way, I just posted a picture of you on my blog from back in the day. So if that upsets you come tell me and I'll take it down!

Jeri said...

I just love your ornaments! Cutting your own tree is such a great tradition. I wish we could do it this year...so it was fun to see your pictures.