The Christmas Tree Experience

Ever since we moved to West Virginia we've been trying to do more "outdoorsy" things. There are plenty of said things to be found here, like hiking and biking and camping and so on. So far we've only managed to go to one state park and spend a lot of time in the yard. So when it was time to pick out a Christmas tree, we decided to go and cut down our own. There are several farms in our county where you can do such a thing, so on Saturday afternoon we hopped into the van and headed into the mountains to cut down a tree. I also armed the vehicle with several holiday DVDs just in case of emergency.

Once we arrived, we realized that the trees were a little odd. They were mostly scotch pines, which isn't the type of Christmas tree we usually get, and they were all rather bushy. But once we started "hiking" through the fields, we were in it to win it. We also didn't realize until we got there that Sam was wearing woefully inadequate shoes. He's pretty independent, and generally makes good decisions in regards to his wardrobe, but I guess he didn't anticipate the muddy, snowy hills we were going to be climbing in our quest for a tree. Within five minutes he was soaked to mid-calf, so we made a quick, you might even say hasty, choice and we SOB got to sawing.

A perfectly normal tree, which for some reason we totally did not choose.

Because the full grown trees were interspersed with yearling trees, it was kind of difficult to get a gauge the actual size of these tree-bushes. When we got home, we realized that we ended up with a rather large tree-bush. Our initial plan was to put the tree in our front hall, where it would greet people as soon as they walked through the front door. Unfortunately, because of it's height and circumference putting it in the hallway was impossible. It would have made our front door completely useless, as there would be no way to get around it. So after some trimming and creative furniture rearranging, we were able to put it in the front part of SOB's office in front of the window/door.

Fittingly, the fireplace is also in that room, so while it might be a little strange to sit at a desk when the kids are opening gifts, I think it works. Plus you can see it from outside through the window/door, so it adds to the overall holiday effect!

This light display is still a work in progress, and has already changed since I took the photo a few days ago.

How are you getting ready for the holidays?