A Hunt for the Perfect Tree

One of the most memorable parts about Christmas growing up was the tradition of going and picking out the Christmas tree. Now most people would say that it involved a fun-filled day of walking through a field filled with trees to find the perfect one to cut down and bring home. I wish I could say the same. My memories involve spending what seemed like hours in the freezing cold at the local garden store literally looking at every single tree with my parents. My dad did the old "hold the tree up and bounce the trunk on the ground" to see if it was good enough to meet up to my mom's standards. My mom had very high standards for the Christmas tree so that's why we were there for hours.

Dave and I have never been one to spend more than about 15 minutes at the tree lot picking out a tree. (My mom is cringing about this while reading this story on my blog. Love you mom!) In fact we usually pick somewhere between the 1st and 5th tree we look at. The same was true this year. We loaded up the kids and headed to the local Home Depot to look at trees. We looked at 2 and picked out the 2nd one. Good enough for us. Then off to Caribou for hot chocolate to warm up.

Lauren

(look how old she looks in this picture)

Benjamin

(speaking of kids who look old)

Noah - mmmmm, I love hot chocolate!

Dad and his "helpers"