Finding a Christmas Tree

We were a little late in the game getting our Christmas tree this year, and with all the yucky weather, what seemed to be our last feasible chance to get our tree happened to be a Saturday morning in the middle of December just minutes before a big snowstorm was predicted to hit.  Tree shopping has become a tradition with our dear friends the Rubins, so we all bundled up the munchkins and met at Varner Farms in Collegeville to let the festivities begin.

Varner Farms is a cute family-owned tree farm with free hot cider/chocolate, a cool little train display, and actual horse-drawn wagons that take you to the choose-and-cut trees.

Liam checking out the train display upstairs in the barn

Smile if you like trains!

Marc, Julianne, Cathleen, and little Ian

We are ready to find our tree!

When we got to the trees, we knew we had to find one quickly.  The temperature was dropping, it was cold, and the toddler contingency may or may not have been growing more miserable by the minute.

Fortunately, one of the first trees we laid eyes on was pretty perfect- and I even somehow convinced my dear Clark Griswold that this was the one and to go ahead and cut it down already!

Photobombed!

In the meantime, the Rubins found their winner too - while Cathleen got her workout in!

Liam was on it as Marc's little helper.

He was so proud of himself!

With both trees cut, bagged, and loaded on the wagon, it was time to get out of there- stat.  By the time we got to the car, all the kids (except Ian, who is maybe the most easygoing kid ever) were sobbing in misery.  I'm freezing!  I'm getting frostbite!  I'm hungry!  I want to go!  So we waved goodbye to our friends and got that tree home.

Once we brushed off all the snow and ice from the branches, we were ready to decorate.  After putting on their first ornaments, though, Joergen decided he would rather watch a Christmas movie and Liam went to get a pair of thick gloves.  Those needles were sharp!

Smiling through the pain of that prickly tree!

And at last... it was finished.

Fast forward a few weeks...

I think maybe we'll go back to Yeager's next year.  It may have been beautiful, but I have never seen a tree lose more needles than this one did!