Christmas Tree Hunting

This year we finally went on an adventure to chop down our very own Christmas Tree, something Josh has always wanted to do as he has so many fond memories doing this very thing as a child with his family. Of course he remembered being older after everything was said and done and we realized how difficult is it to do that kind of thing with four small children.

The day started rough just trying to get out the door with everything we would need for the cold weather, food and cooking and the normal things you would take on a long day with a 7, 5, 3 year old and a baby. The good thing was that we were able to stop in the middle of it all and decide that we were going to enjoy the day we had to spend with each other and not get frustrated. 

Things started out okay, we were a little bummed that the bakery Josh had found was closed just on Mondays. But, we already had our sled and our tree permit and headed on our way. We would have enough food to not be starving with what we packed from home..hopefully. 

We drove up to a forest outside of Ellensberg and found a place to pull of the road so we could get dressed for the snow. Within two minutes three of us had to go to the bathroom, Shayla refused to put on her snow clothes and Eli was dressed but crying. Josh managed to slowly take girls to the bathroom and change Eli's diaper while I tried to get girls dressed. Ally was the first one fully geared up for the snow and decided to sit in the sled while she waited. Unfortunately she started sliding down the fairly steep road that we had just driven up and was picking up speed while she either pretended to not hear us or feigned ability to roll or jump out. Josh ended up having to run and slide down the road to catch her and bring her back up. 

Now all the kids have their snow clothes on and I am trying to go to the bathroom when I hear one of the girls say the Brya had dropped the sled and it was going down the road again, this time with no one in it. Josh had to stop whatever he was doing at the moment (I believe he was trying to get dressed with his snow gear) and run a quarter mile down the road to catch the sled. At one point he said his untied boots and an icy spot caused him to completely lay out on the road and slow his progress to recovering the sled. 

He finally made it back up and we were all able to finish getting dressed and on our way to the hunt for a Christmas Tree. Unfortunately our idea of pulling the little ones in the sled while we went was not an option because of the rough and steep terrain. So Josh carried Shayla while I carried Eli and we hiked and hiked just to realize all the trees in the area we were in were either way too big, way too small, way too diseased or way too dead. So back to the car we went.

By this time we are all very cold, tired and hungry so Josh pulls out a little camp stove to heat up some chili that we brought up that was more like a broth like soup with a few beans in it. We also get the kids in the car to get warm and give them a snack to reduce the whining and crying we were experiencing. 

Just when Josh and I think we have moment to spend together (which included me getting $50 from him by shooting a bottle) our wanna be chili is burning! Since it was too hot to give to the hungry children Josh stuck the tin cups in the snow for a moment and they cooled down very fast and we ended up eating cold burnt stuff, I don't even know what to really call it.

We all get strapped back in the car and after we head down the hill and decide to head back up the hill backwards to get the saw that got left in the snow by our car. Saw retrieved and back down we go, desperate to find something we can call a Christmas tree we all keep our eyes peeled for something. This time we just let Josh out to look and find a tree that may or may not have been an 100 feet from the road and may or may not have been over 15 feet tall and the stump that was left may or may not have been less that 6 inches tall. 

We finally found a tree! After a little reorganizing of the branches it turned out pretty nice.

I must say though that we enjoy looking back and talking about this day. It definitely made a memory worth keeping. I even made up a song that I sang to everyone while we were first looking for the tree to the tune of a classic Christmas song that I can't remember the name of:

Here we go a wondering, for a Christmas tree

All the kids a crying and we all had to pee...

That is as far as I got before I was interrupted by something else.