O Christmas Tree

For the past couple of years my brother Wade has been going up into the woods to cut down his own Christmas tree.  This year my parents wanted to join him and his wife Alisha and I thought this would be a fun experience so I asked if me and my kids could tag along, too.  We went up into a canyon by Preston, Idaho where surprisingly there was snow which of course just makes a better experience.  We picked the day after Thanksgiving to go and it was perfect weather.

 

Along the way of the hunt for our tree Jayla found an interesting stick and of course insisted to bring it along and take it home.  That's what she pointing at the camera.  This picture just makes me smile.

 

I blelieve here Blake is telling Wade that this is the perfect tree for him.  He just looks so sweet in this picture and you just want to eat him up!...or maybe that's just me.  The kids were the best troopers and never did complain of being cold or tired.  We did almost lose Blake, though.  He was trying to follow Wade and Alisha down this icy slope and was determined to make it down even though he couldn't see them anymore.  Luckily, I notcied him about half way down and I had to go retrieve him because he didn't dare climb back up.

 

Here we are in front of our tree!  We got the prize of finding our's first. 

 

I hope that this is an experience that my kids will remember and it's one that we'll definitely be doing again.  Maybe not next year because taking a 5 month old baby hiking through snowy hills doesn't really appeal to me but we'll see.  It certainly was a fun day for me and I so much enjoyed watching my kids' excitment and enthusiasm through out the whole day.

 

 Our wonderful tree all decorated.  I love the unique shape.  We made some of our decorations this year.  The kids made snowflakes, stars, and trees out of popsicle sticks and then painted them.  We also made cinnamon ornaments but did them after I took this picture.

 

This was my attempt at being craft.  These snowflakes were also made out of popsicle sticks and it was idea I got from Pinterest.  I think they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

 

I love that Christmastime has become magical again watching it through the eyes of my children.  How can you not catch their Christmas Spirit?  Our family party is tomorrow and it's something we have been looking forward to because it's always a good time filled with delicious food, lots of laughing, and family love.  Although it will have a touch of sadness because my brother Scott wasn't able to come home this year.  Him and I have a lot of Christmas memories and inside jokes that we share together and I can't help but feel like a piece of Christmas is missing when he's not here.  At least he's in Hawaii which is the next best thing to being home.

 

Happy Christmas everyone!