The Smell of Virginia Pine

Chris and I have had an artificial Christmas tree ever since we got married 7 1/2 years ago. I have to admit, they are easier and more economical, but the magic of a live Christmas tree just isn't the same. Chris always had a "fake" tree growing up, so it didn't really bother him that much - But, my family always had a real tree (until I was in college). We would order them through our church every year and I used to love going to pick one up with my dad. A few times, I went out the farm with my dad and the other men of the church to help cut them all down, but since there were so many, I remember it taking forever and usually just having to wait at home until they got back. SO... I told Chris that when the kids got big enough, I wanted to go out to a Christmas Tree Farm and cut one down ourselves. And so today that is exactly what we did!! It was soooo much fun!! We rode on a hayride out from the barn to the trees, looked around for the perfect one (which is not as easy as we thought), cut it down, carried it back to the barn on another hayride, watched the workers shake it out and feed it through the "string machine" (because I don't know what else to call it) and then tie it on top of the minivan!! It was Griswald all over the place!!!!!!!!!!! Even Steve got to go with us - he had a blast and everyone loved him, of course!! When we got home, it took Chris all of two minutes to get it lined up straight in the tree stand (what would have taken me an hour or so to unwind all the branches and leaves of our fake one) and the decorating began!! It is the PERFECT tree! We love it!!! The absolute best thing is that our whole house smells like Virginia Pine!! It is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so glad we do not have alergies!!

Here are pictures at the Winterland Christmas Tree Farm in Van Alstyne. My battery ran out while downloading, so I do not have the one of the tree on top of the van. I just thought that was hilarious for some reason. If you haven't already put up a tree this year, I highly recommend going to the tree farm and making it a wonderful family experience. :)

(sorry they are small, it was taking forever to upload them tonight for some reason so I had to make them small in size to get them to work. )