Finding the Perfect Tree

We had a great Thanksgiving! We got together with Brandon's mom, Marla, and his brother Kyle and his family. We had a wonderful meal and then we enjoyed an exciting game of Bingo (I won twice!) We filled up on some of Mom's famous pies before heading out to my parents' house to visit with them and Daya and Anton's families. I think that Derek and Carrie may have even shown up to visit as well. We weren't very good about taking pictures, but the two that we took, I think, really sum up our holiday experience...



The turkey smelled so good while it was roasting that it put Kyle and Gordon to sleep without even having to take one bite!



Tamsen and Eddie were chowin' down on the olives. Who doesn't love a finger food that fits so nicely on your fingers?

Thanksgiving done...Bring on the Christmas!!!

While Brandon was serving his mission in the Philippines he became accustomed to the tradition of any month ending with "ber" being Christmas. Yes, they celebrate Christmas for four months in the Philippines. I guess it's OK to have a Christmas tree up for four months when it's a wooden pole in the center of a round disc with lights strung into a triangular shape. It's a little different when it's a living fir tree that drops needles daily and every day that it's standing poses a further threat of burning your house down. This is the conversation that I have with Brandon every September 1st. Seriously...occasional Christmas music is one thing, but chopping down a living tree and bringing it into our home HAS to wait until the day after Thanksgiving... and I always win!

So on November 27th, we embarked on one of our favorite Christmas traditions. We love to get bundled up, go out into the cold, fill up on free hot cocoa at the tree farm, and chomp on our complimentary candy canes while we check every douglas fir on the lot to find the perfect one for our home. It was nice and light when we got there, although pretty chilly!



Tamsen thought that this tree off to her left was just her size. She's so stinkin' cute!



Breanne picked out this tree, and I think it's the one we eventually ended up bringing home with us. Note that she's only wearing a sweatshirt...what do you have to do to get your kids to wear a coat in near-freezing weather?



Jerrin was very helpful with pulling around the special tree carts that they have at the farm. Another kid not wearing a coat in the near-freezing cold weather, what the heck?



Here's the annual family photo in front of the tree before we cut it down. (Check it out...Dallin's in a sweater, too. What kind of parents are we?)



Here's Brandon with the kids. We tried really hard to balance the camera in a tree and use the timer, but this is what we ended up with...



Yah, not so good.



Breanne and Jerrin both took a whack at the tree before Daddy finished it off.



Brandon totally pulls of the "hot lumberjack" look!



Kyleen is way into posing now. I love it! It must be a 5-year-old girl thing because my niece, Ellie, is always posing. Too funny!



Me and my Dally-man!



We had a lot of fun this year on our Totally Cool Tree Cutting Trek. It was a great way to start the Christmas season and we are counting down to the next September 1st when, once again, I can start telling Brandon that he has to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to get the tree.