Hunting a Christmas Tree

So this weekend we headed out to hunt a Christmas tree!

Ping had a great time running through the trees with the other kids,
looking at the trees and trying to pick the "perfect one".

Oddly enough, with 4 children and a wife, there is never ONE perfect tree.

See, in my head the day went like this...

It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon, the birds are singing, the
snow is light and fluffy beneith out feet. We head out in the cool
crisp air, me with my trusty axe in hand with a gaggle of children
trundling along behind me. We walk though the rows of prisinte balsam
woods, pine and spruce trees as we talk about our hopes and dreams of
Christmas. One of the little ones sees a rabbit off in the distance,
and all gather around while he eats a carrot out of my hand (don't ask
why I have a carrot while looking for a tree). Another sees a rare
snipe perched high in the tree.
The finally up in the distance, after passing by hundreds of trees, we
see our tree.
Tall and straight the beautiful balsam tree stands stark green against
the bright blue sky. A light layer of snow fills the branches which
seem to sing as the cool winter air gently blows through the boughs.
With one mighty swing of my trusty axe, our beloved tree is felled and
snugly tied to the roof of our van.
We all climb back into the van, giggling and laughing with delight as
we drive home to decorate our new Christmas tree.

... now... what it was like...

It was a rushed Sunday morning as we tried to make the 9am service.
The mom was yelling at the 11 year old to get out of bed for the 42nd
time. The 9 year old was getting changed yet again, because they
spilt on themselves during what sadly passed as a breakfast. 'Round
about 5 minutes to 9, it was apparent that we would miss the 1st
service, and just catch the 2nd at 11:15. However, the Mom had a
different idea. With one mad push and dash, we assemble our rag tag
group of rabbel into a sembelance of decenticy and pile into the van.
30 some odd minutes later we are 20 minutes late for church and
sitting in our pews.
Church barely ends before we whisk the children out as quickly as we
can. It then dawns on us that we haven't really figured out where to
get a chirstmas tree... luckly, we pass a tree farm on our way home
and pick one up.
Instead of the rabbits and other furry woodland creatures, we had a
couple of french-Canadians gruffly toss a peice of lumber up onto the
roof of our van and tie it down before taking our money and sending us
on our way.

... Still... that was better than last year. :-)

The kids had a great time picking out the tree and decorating it.