Cutting Down the Christmas Tree

One of my favorite traditions is cutting down the Christmas tree. Since the first Christmas Darren and I were married we have picked out, cut down and decorated a live tree. We visit a tree farm in Terell every year with our family. Of course it wouldn't be right to go get our tree without picking the coldest, and usually rainiest day, of the whole year to be outside. But we Hughes' brave the conditions in search of the perfect tree. What a cute bunch of cousins! It's fun to see Autumn and Elic discover the fun of the holiday season. The kids visited Santa inside the holiday store and Preston got the biggest kick out of Elic's conversation with the man in red. It went something like this:
Santa: "What would you like for Christmas?"
Elic: "Hi!"
And that was it. Preston has retold that story to all our family and he just laughs. Although he has expressed concern that Santa won't know what to bring Elic since he didn't tell him anything.
A few pictures with the card board cut outs.
Loading up on the hayride. It's fun to see our families growing. We laughed that in a few years we won't remember which baby Kim is holding (since she's due in just a few months). But that is precious Holden trying to stay warm.
I love that Elic and Autumn hold hands- just adorable!
Holden's first Christmas tree adventure.
One of the boys favorite things about making this trip each year is running wild through all the trees.
Shawn and Kim found their perfect tree.
Darren sought out a beautiful tree and yes, we let Preston and Elic use a REAL saw and help cut it down. They have to learn sometime, right?
There's just something extra manly about cutting down your own tree.
What is it about boys and sticks? I couldn't get Preston to not have one in his hand- especially as he was running all around. Just glad we were accident free on this trip.
Holden was such a trooper.
Gram with her grandkids waiting for the tractor to come pick us up.
One last picture before we all headed for our warm cars and started the drive back home. I haven't even taken a picture of the tree all decorated, but it is one of my favorite trees that we've ever had. What a great start to our holiday season!