O Christmas Tree

This morning we braved the cold weather to head out to Tannenbaum Farms tree farm in Okemos to cut down our tree. Last year we went on a weeknight, so we ended up hiking out to the trees on our own and pulling the tree back. This time, because it was a weekend, we were treated to a tractor-pulled wagon ride to get to the trees. This was a huge relief to me because I wasn't looking forward to having to carry Jack back while Brian pulled the tree.

The tractor dropped us off at a little cabin where there was a bonfire, a reindeer, and lots of tree wagons and saws for us to use. We walked from there to the Blue Spruce section, which as luck would have it was at the far corner of the the farm. And there we searched high and low for the perfect tree. We looked at fat ones and skinny ones, greener ones and bluer ones... Jack even picked out a little one that he liked "for Baby Ben". Finally, we found a tree that we all liked: not too tall, not too fat, and nicely colored. Brian managed to chop it down in a matter of seconds, and we headed back to the cabin for another visit with the reindeer and some donuts and hot chocolate by the bonfire. At the cabin, they shook and baled our tree and then we loaded it back on the big wagon to be driven back to the parking lot.

It was a fun morning for all of us, and we'll definitely be returning -- on a weekend! -- again next year.