A little full, lotta sap...

I've never cut down my own Christmas tree before. Growing up, we traveled 2 hours into the country to Clell's Christmas Tree Farm, but our tree was always waiting for us when we got there since Clell was a friend of my dad's.

As an adult, I found that Home Depot offered a lovely selection of perfectly shaped Christmas trees, and in recent years I've opted to stick with my little faux tree to save money. So when Jason suggested that we go along with his family for their traditional Christmas Tree Outing, I thought it sounded like fun.

Then he told me that we were leaving at 8:30am on Saturday morning. Oh. (Smart guy to save that little detail until after I said I would go). But despite the ungodly hour, we got up and at 'em last Saturday, bundled up, and prepared to find the Perfect Christmas Tree.

Of course we brought the dogs, because that's what you do when you're driving into the country for a Christmas tree. They're part of the family, too. Jason loaded them up while I threw my camera and purse on the passenger seat, and set two travel mugs of coffee and hot chocolate on the console, and then turned around to run in and grab something I'd forgotten.

I came back out to find the dogs exploring the car, and one of the travel mugs spilled onto my camera. The same camera that is currently listed on craigslist as for sale. The second camera to have a liquid incident while in the passenger seat of my car.

I dropped the F-Bomb, grabbed the camera and ran inside to get a towel. Thankfully, the spill was easily wiped off and no harm came to the camera. I immediately laid blame on Jason's dogs (overlooking the fact that I was the one who hadn't used the cup holders - as Jason pointed out in defense of his dogs). Blood pressure slightly elevated, I got into the car, sat on a towel to avoid the spill, and we drove off to meet up with the rest of his family. Wyatt hopped into my lap, and I noticed that his head was covered in hot chocolate. Hmmm...

We got to his parents house at the same time as his sister and her boyfriend, and it only took 30 minutes before we were back on the road, part of a 3 car caravan to the Christmas Tree Farm. Jason had offered to take his sister's dog, Tug the Pug, in our car. I mean, when you have 3 dogs and 2 kids already, what's one more? Except that we weren't even out of the neighborhood before Wyatt and Tug started to fight. I called Wyatt - the instigator - to the front and made him sit on the floor at my feet, which was fine with him since it was a blow to his ego to be treated like a dog in the first place.

Finally, we settled in and enjoyed a peaceful drive to the tree farm. That is, until Tug the Pug pooped, sending unpleasant fumes wafting toward the front of the vehicle.  At the tree farm, Jason cleaned up the poo and we set off in search of our tree. Unfortunately, the selection was bad and the trees were yellow-ish, and after an hour of walking around in the cold, we all agreed to go look elsewhere. The boys got some hot chocolate (since Tanner's had been spilled on my camera) and we prepared to once again load up the cars and head to the next place. That was when Tanner stepped into a hole, sending his full cup of hot chocolate cascading down the front of his coat. Two for two.

I got him cleaned up, and the dogs loaded, and we drove to tree farm #2. There, we found a tree that was nice and full, the right height, and not as yellow as many of the others. Time was ticking because we had somewhere else we had to be, so we agreed on the tree and had the workers cut 'r down.

It was prepped and loaded without incident - a blessed miracle. At home, we got it into the stand and carried into the living room.

It's a little big. And a lot misshapen. In fact, I think we succeeded in choosing the homeliest tree on the farm. It looks like we walked into a forest and hacked down the first evergreen we came to. There's no room for presents under it, and it's so thick that we have no way of knowing what kind of wildlife might be living in there. I have no doubt that at some point during the holiday, a squirrel will come flying out.

But it's our first tree together, and the experience of going to get it was definitely memorable. So what if it's so big that there's not enough room for the living room furniture? So what if the needles make you bleed, and it's got a few dead spots? It makes me laugh, it's a great conversation peice, and it would make Clark Griswald proud.