December 15, 2011

A Hunting We Will Go!

No, not deer hunting - though Matt did wear blaze orange under his jacket. We were on the hunt for the bestest Christmas tree... EVER. God willing, this will be the first Christmas of many, many, many we will celebrate at Cold Anchor Farm. Our tree must be worthy of the occasion!


Matt and I herded the young ones into the family van, with the exception of Brendan who had been up waaay too late the night before and begged to be left at home to nap on the couch. If I had known what our friends' tree farm was like I would have insisted he come too. I expected a simple, boring lot filled with trees planted all in a row. Instead, to our surprise and delight we discovered an enchanting wonderland!



We were warmly greeted by our friends and given a brief tour. The children patted the dogs, snuggled a sweet cat, and fed the sheep and fuzzy donkeys. The llama cautiously watched while keeping his distance. He wanted to know where Brendan was.




Then, it was over the river and through the woods to search for our tree. The over-the-river part took longer than expected.



It looks easy enough, doesn't it? For all of it's crooked appearance, the bridge was solid under our feet. All we had to do was walk across it. All we had to do was cross from one side to the other. We tried. Really, we did. But, we hadn't counted on this:





It was just too pretty! We felt like we were entering a fairytale land. The children began to speak in hushed tones. Hold on. Did I just write that? I don't usually put those words together in the same sentence. My children actually spoke in whispers! Truly! That alone was a Christmas miracle and well worth the time spent lingering on the bridge.

Once on the other side the spell broke and the kids were off and running to find the tree that called to them.



 David, was the first to suggest one. This tree, he argued, would be easy to carry back to the van.



Yes. Well. Umm... Let's keep looking, shall we?




Joey liked this one, though I suspect he just wanted to taste it.


Annie was next to offer her choice.



It was a beautiful tree; however, fitting this tree into our living room might require extensive renovations and probably mean moving our our couch out onto the lawn.  Okay for the summer - winter, not so much.



Getting closer, Alex. We'd only have to cut a small hole in the ceiling to fit this one inside.

Mary was next. She had the right idea. I knew she was a smart little girl!



At last, we all agreed on a tree. Matt cut it down and hefted it to his shoulder for the walk back to the van. I worried he would hurt his knee still healing from surgery. The ground was slippery, but we walked nice and slow, getting to van without incident. See? There he is, under those pine branches. At least I think that's him. 




Joey thought it was pretty funny.




The hunt was a success! Our friends were so very kind. They made the tree a house warming gift.




 And warm the house it certainly did!


3 comments:

Unknown said...

very pretty!!!! It sounded like a great day out!

Therese said...

Love the tree. If you ever want a summer Christmas, you better come to Austria.

AnchorMama said...

It's hard for me to picture a summer Christmas. Sounds like fun. I'd love to visit!