The Hillarys Go Tree Hunting!

The snow has descended upon Southwestern Michigan and I'm like a kid in a candy shop! A lot of people, despite living in Michigan where it snows hard and heavy almost every year, FREAK OUT when the first snow hits. Not this girl. I grew up learning to drive on snow-covered country roads in an old Honda Civic (basically the equivalent driving a go-cart in the snow), so this weather does not faze me one bit. It really just fuels my Christmas spirit.

I will say, even though I love the snow, I am glad it wasn't snowing last weekend, because we had a PERFECT day for picking out our Christmas tree! No snow meant minimal mud and we didn't have to try and rush things to make sure the kiddos didn't freeze. Despite loving National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, we had no intention of recreating the Griswold Family tree hunting scene:

Over the past few years, we've tried out a few different tree farms, trying to find just the right one that is perfect for our family. We tried out Hart Tree Farm last year and it will be our go-to tree farm for the foreseeable future!

They have both pre-cut and you-cut trees in lots of different varieties (or is it species?). I like this for the sheer fact that we are in no way tied to the idea of cutting our own tree down every year. This year and last, we've gotten a pre-cut tree, and I think we may have the previous year as well. Once the kids are older and want to do the entire experience, we will likely cut our own (sorry Dan), but for now we are totally content with pre-cut.

One of the reasons we like Hart Tree Farm, aside from the great trees, are the things they have for kids, especially if you're not taking your kid back to cut a tree down yourself. They have hot cocoa, and I believe on Saturdays they have hot dogs and brats. It smelled great when we went, so they might have had more, but we didn't make it inside this year. They also have this cute little petting zoo with sheep, goats, and mini ponies. They offered pony rides for $5, but we didn't think Annie was quite big enough yet for that, though she did sit and stare at the kids getting the rides! For the time being, she was content just saying "Hi" to the "Neigh Neigh" and the "Baa Baa."

After the first round (because yes, there were 2 rounds) of seeing the animals, we walked across the street to the overflow tree lot. There were fewer people and we found an excellent tree there last year, so we decided to check it out again. We found our perfect tree there in just a few minutes!

It fulfilled all of the necessary Perfect Christmas Tree Requirements:

-Straight trunk

-Zero or minimal holes or gaps

-Smells nice

-Short needles that are soft and not too prickly

-Right height

-Perfect tree-topper branch -must be straight and tall!

We tried to get the girls involved with the experience as much as you can with a not-quite-2-year-old and a 6-month-old. In short, Annabelle was our inspector and Eloise was the supervisor:

After picking out our Perfect Christmas Tree, we also picked out our Perfect Front Door Christmas Wreath. Last year we bought a pre-decorated wreath along with our tree, and when we took it down at the end of the season, we kept all the little decorations. We did it that way so that this year, we only bought a plain wreath, and then decorated it with the pieces from last year, along with a bow that we already had. I'd say it turned out pretty well!

We paid for our tree, and the awesome people at Hart baled it, drilled a hole, put a fresh cut on it, and even carried it across the street to the car. Dan was able to fit it inside the car (you know, because we are a minivan family now!) while I took Annie and Ellie back to look at and say hi to the animals. Once the tree was securely in the car and the girls had their fill of animals, we loaded them (the girls, not the animals) back up and were on our way back home.

While the girls were down for a nap - I think we had about 10 minutes that they were both sleeping at the same time - Dan and I got the tree in the house and in the tree stand because we knew trying to do that with a toddler running around would have been disastrous.

Just as we finished setting the tree up and taking the baling off, Eloise woke up, but we at least had that part done. While she was hanging out with us downstairs as her sister napped, we strung all the lights on the tree. For the past few years, we'd been putting white lights on the tree, and this year I convinced Dan that we should put colored lights on it because Annie would like it more. Really though, it's because I wanted it. We had colored lights on our tree throughout my childhood, so it brings back lots of happy memories and nostalgia for me when I see Christmas trees with colored lights. My face must have just been beaming when we turned off all of the house lights and only had the tree lights on, because Dan said he was glad I loved the colored lights so much and that they brought me so much happiness. Sometimes the little things make a big difference!

Once Annie woke up from her nap, we threw on Christmas music, which is on A LOT at our hous, and (very carefully) decorated the tree together as a family. There were a select few ornaments that we let Annie hang (think soft with no fishhooks), and we Dan and I hung the rest. Again, Ellie was "supervising" hehe!

Overall, we had a really great day tree hunting and decorating. I know it's unlikely that the girls will remember anything (especially Eloise), but just seeing the joy and wonder on their faces at the whole experience is enough to make my heart full and know that they enjoyed it! And even if they don't remember it now, we're starting to create our family traditions, which is what I hope they will appreciate as they get older.

I'd love to hear what your family does for Christmas traditions! Feel free to share!

#Christmas #ChristmasTree #TreeDecorating