Oh Christmas Tree....

We always get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and this year was no exception. However, we usually hike up into the mountains scouring the countryside for the perfect tree - which is beautiful in it's own way, but we've definitely had our share of "Charlie brown Christmas trees". This year we went to a tree farm near our home called Tannenbaum's. We absolutely loved it! They pull you out on a trailer through fields of beautiful trees, drop you off by a big campfire and a building that serves hot cocoa and donuts. They have a saw and a tree-wagon for you to take out into the fields of trees where you cut down your own (they are each individually priced) They were all so beautiful it didn't make the hunt for the "perfect" tree very hard. In fact after a few minutes of looking Sophie said, "What are we waiting for, let's cut one down already!" The hard part is trying to decide what type of tree to get. Then you load it onto your tree-wagon and they have a machine that wraps it up nice and tight for you. Did I mention they have a reindeer? They had to de-horn him because his antlers were so big they didn't want it to hurt anyone. After some cocoa and donuts by the fire we loaded back up onto the wagon and they pulled us back to the main building where we paid for our tree (only $27.00) and headed back home. This will definitely be a Michigan tradition! Another one of my family traditions is to sleep under the tree the day we put it up. We gave it a try but with a 4 year old and a 2 year old who were bouncing off the walls it didn't go so well, but it was a lot of fun to try. Maybe it will go better next year! The best part for Brian was putting the lights on the tree. In past years he would always wrap each individual branch on the tree (it helped it not to look quite so bare) and it was always a very long process. This year all it took was a few strands draped around the outside of the tree and it still looked great! Hurray!