FA-LA-LA-LA,LA, LA-LA-LA-LA

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with friends, and then ... changed things up a bit. We have, like, never put our Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving weekend because a lot of times we have been out of town (I'm quite sure we're the only ones on the block who doesn't). And then a week or two later we would put up our lovely fake Christmas tree (the one that leans to the right halfway up) that we've had since the kiddoes were born.  It's just easier when you have little ones.  But we decided, now that they are older, we would change up our tradition a bit and head to the mountains to one of the gazillion Christmas tree farms and have our tree cut this year.  We all could not wait.

Some people live ready ~

We left mid morning for our 2-hour trek up the mountain, and about the time we got 20 minutes from our destination, Caleb is feeling a little ...well, car sick (he does take after his mother with some things).  So we pull over for like an hour trying to get him to drink a coke, get out and walk around for a bit.  The weather was beautiful and had warmed up a bit from the previous weekend.

While brother lay in the back seat (head on daddy's lap), said person pictured above, not in the least bothered by our little detour, decides she's going to count (the countless) cars coming down the mountain carrying their Christmas load.

Brother chimmed in once he started feeling better.  I think they finally gave up at 160, 180, something like that. You can always find a game in the car, right?

We stopped for a bite to eat and then headed to the outskirts of Boone for our perfect tree - or not so perfect tree.  What kind of tree do you prefer?  Fat, skinny, round, tall, short, Charlie Brown?  I didn't necessarily want "the perfect tree," I wanted something that was more of the Charlie Brown stature.  Okay, not quite that bad, but natural looking, shall we say.  But everyone else opted for the most perfect tree.

We have the yard stick and we're on the hunt for an 8-footer.

The scenery is beautiful.  Trees everywhere.  Ohhh, which one should we choose?

How about this little Charlie Brown beauty for our room, mom?  (Said kiddoes are bunking together for the month of December) uh-huh.

And then we see it ... the perfect tree.  We all agree ~  Wow, it sure looks big.  Can you please cut it to 8 feet?  Sure.  No problem.

A little snow still left on the ground ~

T-i-m-b-e-r ~

Lots of folks waiting to get their trees trimmed and wrapped ~

Gee, mom, which one is ours?  Okay, kids, mommy does NOT know everything!

They load 'er up and we head to my favorite little village of Blowing Rock for a little shopping ~

The sun is setting and it's getting quite cold out.  The village is beaming with shoppers - music playing in the park - and there's actually NO WHERE to park.  Every spot is taken with some van, car, SUV, or truck with a tree loaded on top.  Finally, someone is leaving and we grab us a spot. Christmas lights are everywhere, and this is my idea of a good start to Christmas.  We make our way down Main Street, buy a few ornaments, take in the music, grab a bite to eat, and head home.

We're 45 minutes from home, it's dipped to 30 degrees out, not much traffic on the dark highway (it's 9:30 p.m.), and ... WE BLOW A TIRE!  Not just any tire, A BRAND NEW TIRE!  So the hub gets out and changes our tire in the freezing, dark night (at least it wasn't raining).  Thanks, honey!

We're only off course about a half hour and then we finally make it home.  The hub decides he's going to get the tree off the top of the car (it's about 10:30 p.m.)  He proceeds to get the tree down off the top (in spite of my efforts of doing it tomorrow IN THE DAY) - he drops the tree - on its crown - dear, where will our beautiful angel go now!  He drags it into the garage and thinks, geez, this tree looks BIG!  He measures it again and guess what?  Leroy up on the mountains obviously doesn't know how to measure.  Our lovely tree is 9 feet tall and will not fit into our 9-foot ceiling home.  So ... he calls me out there.  Do you want the good news first or the bad?

He explains and it all seems so simple.  Okay, the chainsaw is broke so we can't cut the large  trunk off the bottom part, the top is already snapped in two - about a foot - just take it the rest of the way off -- instant fix!  We nestle our little angel on top very carefully - and no one is the wiser!

Despite all the Broom bleeps and blunders, everyone had a blast and the kids are already planning for next year.  After all, it's the bleeps and blunders that make the memories, right?

Wha-la, she's a beauty ~

Home sweet home ~