Christmas Trees - first round

The day after Thanksgiving Jason had to work, so the kids and I headed down to Salem to help my mom and dad pick out their Christmas tree.  It usually takes up to hours to chose the most perfect tree on the lot.  This year it took about 10 minutes.  It was a Christmas Miracle!!!!  Here is Jackson standing in front of the miraculous tree!

A Man and his tree.  This is sacred.

Harrison was so happy to be cutting down a tree!!! 

It is a very old tradition in the Alldredge family to where Santa Hats while getting the tree.  Our family is well remembered at the tree farm from year to year.  We are the family with the Santa Hats.  It's a big deal.

My wild princess, Lily, ran around the whole time, and this is the only time I saw her.  Good thing I took a picture!  She had just slipped in the mud.  See her muddy hand?

The tree getting shaken.  All the dead needles falling off.  It was fun to watch four grown men barely able to handle this tree.

I think the best thing about this tree farm is the free Hot Cocoa.  My kids all really enjoyed it.  At one point Harrison was filling up cups of cocoa and taking them to the tree farm employees and getting annoyed with them if they didn't drink it up.

Bailey, and this guy she's going to marry.  Also known as Garrett.  As you can see, he wore a Santa Hat, which pleased my dad, I'm quite sure.

Kylie stole my hat and had a blast making fun of me.  She was singing Newsies songs and shouting out, "Seize the DAY!!"  I didn't think it was too funny. 

OK, who am I kidding?  It was HILARIOUS!!!  We were all laughing very hard!

Me and my boys.

Remember, I didn't see Lily the whole time.  We took about 5 pictures like this.  Max is drinking cocoa in all of them, and Harrison is sweetly smiling in all of them.  We couldn't get Max to put the cup down.

Driving behind them on the way home was like driving behind the Griswold's.  It was quite scary.  Jackson said they've never gotten so many crazy looks and stares on the way home from the tree farm before.  The tree was as wide and almost as long the Durango.  The twine was not strong enough to hold it.  It kept slowly sliding back. 

We made it home!!!  The tree was still, barely on the top of the Durango.

Trying to figure out HOW to get it in the house!!!

Finally got it in.  Bennett was very nervous about the gigantic tree in the house.

To put this into perspective, Jackson is 6'2" tall.  So, the tree is massive, especially in my parent's smaller home.

When I was about 12, and the oldest of 7 little kids, my mom came up with a sanity saving plan to decorate the tree.  She calls it the tree trimming party.  The plan is to put out tons of goodies on the table to draw all the children's attention.  Christmas colored Peanut M&M's, egg nog, chex mix, muddy buddies and almond roca are just a beginning.  Then, she can quickly and sanely do most of the decorating without being bothered by the kids.  Needless to say, I have carried on this tradition in my own home. 

Maxwell enjoying the eggnog.

Bennett loves Chex mix and muddy buddies.

Lily enjoying her eggnog.

Sorry, I have no pictures of the tree decorated.  Mom was taking her time and it got to the point when I needed to take the kids and get out of there.  I'll pictures of her decorated tree later.