Monday, December 1, 2014

and we're off


We arrived home from a little Thanksgiving holiday, raring and ready to begin our Christmas festivities! 



Having already completed our pre-decorating (i.e. wreaths, christmas village and calendar) the final tid-bit remaining was to acquire and decorate our tree.



Now, that may sound easy to you, maybe you purchase one at a nearby grocery store, or sail, apple cider in hand around a carefully manicured lot brimming with flawlessly contoured evergreens. That is not the case here on the farm.

We don't settle for those fancy schmance douglas firs or your swanky blue spruces. Nay, for us, it's a hand cut, straight from the fields, cedar. Beautful and bushy, maybe a little smashed in places, nearly always to big, with plenty of bald spots, and if the light shines just so thru the window, you can see all the way thru it. 

Classy, I tell you:)

It was an unseasonably warm day, with temperatures predicted to plunge as dusk fell. So we piled into the ole truck and took off thru the hills, the bigger kiddos belting out their very own rendition of All I Want For Christmas is A Tree, while Eleanor added in the thumping bass beat "Glo-ry, Bob-by, Glo-ry, Bob-by." 

After a few long minutes Kaleb and I gave each other the look- it said pick a tree and pick it fast! We glanced up and there she was, in all her full glory, our tree. She was a beaut, meant just for us.




Kaleb did all the dirty work while the wee babe watched on in frenzied excitement. The big three still too wrapped up in their  shrieking tunes to even notice or hear a chainsaw raging in the background. 



We loaded it up and headed on in search of the final treasure on our quest- mistletoe. It was only 20 or 30 feet up, no big deal for a manly man like my hubby. He shimmied his way up and out, sending down shoots of the stuff like drops of hail falling from the heavens.



After a brief intermission for Kaleb and I to wrangle our prize into the house and in the stand. . . we lit her up. Much to the kids exhilaration, the time had ultimately arrived to decorate.



It's what I would call an eclectic tree, littered with the likes of spiderman dog tags, whittled sticks and t-ball medals. The wilds literally found anything that could possibly hang, no heed to sentimental gems or one of a kind trinkets.




Finally, we all took a step back and looked at her in all her glory, it was far and away our best tree yet. It screams of kids, craziness, happiness and laughter. 



Together we nuzzled up under the glow of the lights and read our first holiday book of the season, and as I read and my mind slowed a bit from the chaos that is decorating a tree with four little bits, peace washed over me. We were finally ready to begin, to start new traditions hopefully combined with old, to remember, to celebrate.


28 comments :

  1. Ah, this is perfect! So sweet that you guys cut the tree yourself from your very own farm…we always get ours from the Ikea parking lot (the very definition of classy), so I'm totally jealous of the hands-on experience!

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  2. How fun to be able to cut a tree from your own farm!! Sounds like a perfect (albeit maybe a bit chaotic) day of making memories!!

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  3. Beautiful! We cut ours on Sunday. Our main one comes from our neighbours tree lot just down the road, but my little man gets a tree from the "Tree Fairy" and it comes from the back 40 :)

    Enjoy the season. xo

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  4. oooooh!! it's a beautiful time! enjoy as much as you can!

    xx

    isa

    www.un-likely.com

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  5. Oh, wow! Beautiful, too beautiful.......[and - just an observation - your tree is HUGE!!!! I'm impressed!!!!!]......love your stories xxxx

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    1. Ha- yes massive! Biggest one we've squeezed in to date!

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  6. This is just gorgeous. What amazing pictures and it looks like you had the most beautiful day!x

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  7. Ugh really, you make me want to be you! I mean I can imagine that there must be dirty and tiring sides of your farm life as well, but it just sounds too good. Also, how can you have 4 children and a farm and look like this in the evening? Do all of us a favour and try to look at least a little tired :)
    http://elmundodesophie-sparkle.blogspot.com.es/

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  8. So fun. What a great tradition! We always had to pull our fake one down from the attic with my parents, spend hours 'fluffing' the branches to make them look semi-realistic and then decorate it. As kids we loved using those colored lights and all of our homemade ornaments and then hallmark ones that our grandmother would buy us each season... so cluttered but fun. I know my mom always wanted to style it like a magazine, but she let us do it, which was really nice of her. ;) Living in our apartment we have a little 3.5 ft artificial tree. It fit in our tiniest apartment, and we will continue to use it until we have more space! Right now it is sitting on the floor... our little cat is twice as big as she was last year at Christmas.... so we thought we had better test her restraint before we put it up high with glass ornaments on it! :) haha I love the cedar ones too! XO -Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

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  9. That is such a fun tradition for your kiddos to remember... choosing their tree from the fields. My mom did that with a tree in our back yard one year, and I remember thinking she was crazy because no one else I knew did that. Now it is one of my favorite Christmas memories. It looks so cozy and beautiful all lit up!

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  10. Great pictures and words to describe a perfect day of a valued tradition.

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  11. Another beautiful post, your blog is so inspirational and the only thing that matters for everyone is that we are happy and surrounded by family - you and your family always come together and share beautiful moments like this for everyone to enjoy and read….

    As mentioned before, it's always like I am with you and experiencing the the day myself!! :D

    I wish you and your beautiful family a wonderful Christmas - all my love! :)

    Layla xx

    www.sprinklesofstyle.co.uk
    www.youtube.com/user/sprinklesofstyle

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  12. what a perfect holiday day with the family. a mistletoe quest? i can't imagine many things happier than that. as always, lovely photos (esp the one with your kids blurred behind the reeds - so gorgeous)

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  13. You guys are so cool. I have only dreamed of chopping down my own tree! I can't wait to follow this fam along during the holidays, your cuteness is too great!

    xo

    Michaela

    http://michaelajeanblog.com

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  14. Awww...stop making me cry-this sounds so perfect!

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  15. I love that you guys went out and cut down your own tree! :) It looks awesome! I'm sure the kids love it. :)

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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  16. Oh my gosh this is such a cute post - it sounds so perfect. I love that you go and cut down your own tree!

    Sophie x | sophhskii.co.uk

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  17. Aw, your tree-day-experience looks so fun and cozy. It's been unseasonably warm here in NYC too! and I spent Thanksgiving back at home with my family :)

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  18. i'm so glad you had an awesome Thanksgiving and if that isn't the most PERFECT tree I don't know what is. It is LOVELY! I love the last picture of you and your family in front of it. Looks SO GOOD! I love the picture of your little one with the sparkly heart on her tee. You capture everything so beautifully.
    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

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  19. that tree is light a chapter right out of the griswold's family christmas (only without all the tragically humorous disasters!) your tree has so much character with the assortment of ornaments, i love it. and i can't believe you found and cut your own mistletoe! to me, it seems as rare as finding a fourleaf clover or something. ;)

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    1. Ha- oh yes, I always take to calling him Clark on these adventures. He never fails to pick out a 30 foot mammoth:)

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  20. I love seeing everyone's holiday traditions. This post and the pictures are absolutely gorgeous!

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  21. so lovely! your children will have such fond memories of their childhood.

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  22. This is so sweet! When I was growing up, my brother and I would go out with my dad to cut down our tree and haul it back home. My dad always talks about the one year it was so cold and my brother and I got tired so he was carrying us on his back while dragging the tree haha And then my parents would have to move the decorations up after we were done because they would all be at kid height!

    Sounds like you are making wonderful memories and traditions to last a lifetime!

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  23. Ahh, so precious! I love that you guys go to get your own tree! We still have fake trees. Maybe someday when we have kiddos we'll do the real tree thing. I think it's a fun idea! :)

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  24. What a great memory. Love the photos of them decorating. Precious.

    Christina
    www.cityloveee.blogspot.com

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  25. Awe sounds like a lovely time. Your trees looks so colorful and pretty! :)

    Jessica
    the.pyreflies.org

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  26. Aw, sounds lovely! And goodness, these pictures! Melting my heart.

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