O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Monday afternoon in the frigid (23 degrees without wind chill) weather, we took a family trip to a local tree farm and cut ourselves our family Christmas tree! This is obviously Asher's first tree. This is also my (Allyson) first "real" tree. I come from a family who proudly puts up a ginormous beautiful fake tree every year. I didn't know there was another way to do it. I will be honest, I had (and may still have)reservations. I am not excited about prying needles out of Asher's death-grip fingers.

I know we have only had this tree for a few short hours, but I may have done a 180 (don't tell Mark). He told me how much I would love a real tree and the whole experience and I hate to say but he was right. We had the most fun. Asher loved it. There were slim pickings with the trees which made it more fun. It was sooooooooo cold which made it more fun. Asher laughed the whole time which made it more fun. And of course the man who owned the place was shall we say "different"...which made it more fun! On our way home, Mark stopped to check the tree to find that he had left his gloves on top of the car! One was sadly missing. Now, let me take a minute to explain to you how much Mark loves his gloves. He loves them so much that he doesn't even always wear a coat...just gloves and he likes to clap his hands together when he wears them to make the glove smacking sound. It's too funny. Anyway, a glove was gone. Mark played it cool like he didn't care. I encouraged him to turn around and it would be somewhere in the mile that we had driven. Sure enough we found it. WHEW! That might have put a little bitterness on the otherwise perfect trip. Here are some pics of the adventure!
First, a family shot. This was a miracle because there was no one behind the camera making Asher look towards the camera. We tried to take this pic for our Christmas card last week about 37 times. It never worked. Oh well.

I love this picture of Asher and I. It captures perfectly the excitement of two first time tree cutters.

Mark starts the cutting...and singing "O Christmas Tree"

Still cutting...still singing...

The tree is ours:)

This is the tree shaker. Asher thought this was hysterical. This guy probably thought we were big weirdos for taking pictures of the tree shaker. Guess what, I didn't care...click, click, click away! We are making memories people:)

Asher hanging out in the car with the tree. Yes, it is tied to the top of our car, your eyes are telling you the truth. Classy.

...and it is up! This is the "before" shot.


Wait for it...

Wait for it...

TA-DA!!!




We love it! Hope you enjoy your Christmas decorations just as much as we do:)
Merry Christmas!
Mark, Allyson, and Asher