Friday, December 10, 2010

Annual Christmas tree hunt...err..fight...



O.k. so every year we have lived in N.C. we treak up to the mountains the day after Thanksgiving to cut down a Christmas tree..it's a traditon in our family.  It happens because we've never had family or guests for Thanksgiving and so we do this to make ourselves feel better for not having family here..well, this year we were blessed to have family from NJ and it was sooo wonderful.  I hope every year we have family come from now on...
I digress..
Anyway, we make this trip up to the mountains and pick the farm, drink the cider, take the hayride up the mountain...and fight...and fight and fight..
We are ALWAYS the last family to pick a tree..ALWAYS...
We always fight over the tree every year.  When the boys were too young to know better, Darryl and I would fight about the tree.  We would be standing out there freezing, sometimes in the snow fighting...
Now that the boys are old enough for an opinion, they have joined into the fight.  After what seems like an eternity of looking at EVERY.SINGLE.TREE...we'll pick usually the first one we chose in the first place.
Then we'll head to Blowing Rock for the festivities and reminince how wonderful our tradition is...isn't it always the case you forget the pain after it's happened? (-:
Anyway, the discussions began in November about the Christmas tree this year.  You see, our new home has 19 foot ceilings in the family room and Darryl wanted a BIG tree!  We happened to be at Hobby Lobby sometime in November and I casually mentioned that maybe we buy...gasp..get ready for it...a fake tree...
The boys burst into tears...I casually reminded them that our *tradition* always ends up in fights and if we want a large tree and go to the mountains it will cost more out of the Christmas budget(I know, I'm such a miser..someone has to watch the budget...lol)
So, on Thanksgiving Darryl mentioned going to a local tree lot so we could get a larger tree.  He figured that the gas money we saved could pay for a larger tree...good logic, money-wise..I like it..but how will the boys react?  Well, he approached the boys about it and gave them the choice..we could go the mountains and stick with our normal 7/8 ft tree or we could go to a local lot and pick a larger tree...they chose the larger...
So, the day after Thanksgiving after our guests left, we headed to a local tree lot.  Apparantly, they have been doing this in the same location for 30 years.  They bring their trees from there farm in the mountains so we were still getting a NC tree.  Actually, it was a really nice lot and they had candy canes, coloring books, etc..just not the hay ride...but one thing they did have...
The Annual K Family Christmas tree fight!!
Again, we were there for over an hour looking at every tree..Matthew threw a fit because he wanted a tree that looked like it belonged in the White House and Nicholas and I finally gave up and sat down...
Darryl and Matthew looked and looked and looked and then looked some more and then we finally, finally found our tree...
As you'll see the picture is of Darryl and I because Matthew was still crying we didn't pick his tree.


After the tears were dried and we got to take pictures and eat candy canes, we were all happy again.

 



Although, I do love going to the mountains, it actually was kindof nice not driving up that day.  We got to go home, have some leftovers and trim the tree.   The boys really seemed fine with it and our tree really is beautiful.  They even gave us 10% off the tree for being first time customers, so we actually paid the same for our 10ft that we usually pay for our 7ft... It was still a great tradition even if we didn't go all the way up there...we will always have our annual fight regardless of where it is...
With love,
T-

2 comments: