Christmas Tree Chopping!!!

So - Darren and I have been married for 16 years, and we've always had a fake tree - that is until this year... Our friends, Turner and Angela, purchase a pass and cut one down every year. We went with them a couple of years ago,couldn't make it last year, but joined them again this year (we went this past Sunday). Angela got us a pass this year, so we decided to go ahead and cut one down and begin a tradition that we can continue with Peyton (whenever we finally get to bring her home!!!). We'll still put up our fake one - that one will be more formal and has all of the ornaments we've added over the years - this one will be for Peyton, and we decorated it this year in her honor. We even made an ornament for her to hang on the tree along with an ornament with a paw print from each of the kitties. We had such a great time - it snowed A LOT the night before, and we were the first ones to make tracks into this particular section of the park and the first to make tracks up the hill to start choosing a tree. It was lightly snowing, and there was no wind until we got ready to leave, but all in all, we couldn't have chosen a better day, and we really enjoyed spending time with Turner, Angela, and the kids as well. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Ahhhhh..........The beautiful landscape!


Here we are in front of the tree we chose before we chopped it down.


Darren chopping down his first live tree!


Cayden watching, intently, as Darren cuts down the tree...


Turner, Angela, Cayden, and Sydney in front of their tree.


Cute Little Sydney!!!


Darren using his snow blower for the first time when we got home - he got it at the end of last season and hasn't had an opportunity to use it until now.


We thought we chose a small tree, but I guess when you're in the park with all of those HUGE trees, it was relatively small! It ended up being a normal-sized tree.


The tree all set up - I am not thrilled with the blue lights, but we wanted to do something different for Peyton's tree - I think it's getting multi-colored lights next year - Darren is against the clear lights that I love because he thinks I'll make it look too much like the other tree. He wants it to be a fun tree for Peyton.


Here we are in front of the tree with the cats. They were quite interested in the tree. Berkley tried to bite one of the branches, and when he let go it came back and smacked him in the head. It was so funny because he acted so stunned!


Merry Christmas, Everyone!!