More than Mothering

As I mentioned in an earlier post, part of (okay most of) our

Black Friday is spent Christmas Tree hunting. Our family has been visiting the same farm, about 20 or so miles away, for the past three years. It's a cute little place tucked back off the main highway, but still pretty accessible. Thank goodness!

They are the friendliest of people-- from the gentleman who greets you and asks you what size of tree you're looking for, to the sweet ladies inside this building (what I call the hospitality shack) who work behind the counter selling hot cocoa, popcorn, candy, and pop.

But more on the hot cocoa in a minute!

After you confirm the tree size you are on a hunt for, you load up your family for a hay rack ride. A kind, young fellow takes you out into trees and drops you off with a saw. This year we also got a little label with the business phone number on it so you can just call them when you find your tree (that way they can haul it back in case your arms/hands are full of little ones). They will come find you, cut it down (or you can cut it down yourself), load it and haul it to the front of the lot.

But first you need to get that tree.

Dad has a saw in one hand and a baby Boushka in the other. Off we go to hunt for our perfect tree. It looks as if Peach and Brownie are looking a little close to the ground!

After trudging through the tall grass that surrounds the trees and making up a story about a grasshopper, we found our tree. Daddy hung the saw around the top marking our tree.

We called the office to tell them about our find; then we hung around waiting on our kind, young fellow with the trailer to come assist us.

Yes, of course I asked the girls to pose in front of our new tree. They happily obliged; they were quite proud and excited to get this baby home and decorated.

Since the mood was light and happy, I snapped a few extra shots (with Christmas card pictures in mind)!

And then the kids needed some entertainment. Peach found loose grass and started throwing it.

And as sisters will do, Brownie joined in the fun.

And of course little Bouska thinks she's just as big as her sissies---so she makes her attempt as well.

But this little Bug stayed in Daddy's arms. That's a common site to see in our family. You can almost always find this little princess in her daddy's arms.

Within a matter of minutes, our grass-throwing came to an end and we hitched a ride back to the front (our tree joined us on the ride)!

Again, the mood was so light and everyone was sooooo happy, I took advantage by snapping several photos. These are my girls riding back with hot cocoa on their brains!

Once we were dropped off, our tree was measured,shaken of loose needles, and netted. The gentlemen loaded our tree onto our van as we made our way into the hospitality shack.

And of course you can bet that there were four hot cocoas, one sprite, one bag of Doritos, one bag of M&M's, one popcorn, several free candy canes and Christmas themed drawing pads. A certain little gal was quite smitten with her hot cocoa.

These three were entertained with the snacks and drawing pads.


We also took a walk around the place to peek at ornaments before sitting down for a family photo. With 6 of us to photograph, I'm giving some props to the guy (who works at the farm and offered to take the picture without me even asking) who took this shot. Daddy isn't looking, but at least the kids are!

We came home and decorated our tree while Mary Poppins served as background noise. It was fun to find our old ornaments and tell the girls what they represented. They each got to hang their first Christmas ornament along with several others.

There will be another post featuring our decorated tree soon.