Over the river and through the woods...

...to Grandfather's Christmas tree farm we went to get our tree. This is our family's tradition every year, and has been for 14 years! I just discovered that Jim's dad has been raising Christmas trees ever since before he was born! I didn't realize he had been doing it that long. We drive just over an hour {50 miles} to get a tree during a very busy time of year, but the trip is about much more than a free tree. I know that Jim enjoys going home and any time he can spend with his dad out in the tree patch. I know that holds a lot of meaning for him. Since we had to make the trip when we could have at least 2-3 hours of daylight to drive down and pick out the tree in the light, we weren't able to find time until this weekend this year. We have been at basketball tourneys the past couple weekends, which makes finding free weekend afternoon hours tough. Andrew finished his tourney game at 12:45 in Vancouver, we went home to get the truck, change, and made it down to Dallas by 3:15.

I learned early on that picking out a tree with Jim was not a quick or easy task. There are always many great trees to choose from, but Jim tends to like to look at the whole patch and find the perfect one. We always have a great tree, but we ought to when it always takes two days to get it, set it up, string lights and decorate it. Just as most everything done by my husband, extra time and care is put into the tree. It must be shaken with the shaker at the farm to get out all the dead needles and debris, sometimes baled, trunk re-cut at home with the chain saw, and then the specialty stand is nailed to the trunk of the tree in two places, the placement being carefully calculated so that no branches are nicked or cracked by the stand or hammer during the process. The tree stand goes on top of a large piece of plywood on top of a foam, rug liner protecting the hardwood floor. The tree must be watered immediately and checked the next morning as it 'drinks' half the bucket the first night. The tree lights are carefully woven in and out of the branches so it is lit from the inside out and with very little wire showing. He used to put over 1000 lights on 9-10 foot trees, but in this house we don't have high ceilings in the living room and can only get a 7 foot tree. This year our tree only has 400 lights.

Picking out the tree this year was no exception, and went something like this: We drove up to Grandpa's house to look at his tree patches there first. As we got out, Grandpa greeted the kids with hugs. The kids ran and said 'Hi' to the golden retriever, Rusty, in his kennel and looked for Grandma, but she was gone to town. Catherine got special attention because Grandpa saw her in her new glasses for the first time and I snapped the photo of him telling her how much he liked them. Love the smiles on Jim and the kids faces as that scene unfolded, and Catherine's embarrassed smile. Grandpa handed out candy canes, and we walked up into the tree patches. Grandpa's newly acquired cat, Jasper, found us and Catherine had to hold him for a picture. We looked through 4 or maybe 5 patches before Jim and his dad found any serious contenders. I just hang back and wait because I know you might go back to the first good one you saw, but they have to look through the whole property first anyway. There is no rushing this event; its about the experience. The kids and I took some pics and wove our way through the trees after the men. The kids started a game of hide and seek. We all got our jeans soaked through from brushing against the wet branches. This year we didn't get our faces tangled in spider webs as we usually do. The weather must have washed the webs away, but the day was dry and cold.

After finding the tree in the farthest patch, Grandpa walked back to the shop to get his chainsaw. The guys cut down our tree and Grandpa & Grandma's tree, and carried them out through the cow pasture. We washed our muddy boots with the hose, piled in the truck and drove over to Grandpa's tree farm shop on another piece of property where there are other patches of trees and equipment for shaking and baling trees. The kids love to go here because in the shop there is always a fire going in a pot belly stove to dry off by and hot chocolate waiting. There the men used the shaker on the two trees and loaded them in the two trucks. After drying by the fire, sipping the cocoa, and chatting for awhile we headed home at about 5:45. It was a fun outing, but we still had to go home for dinner and putting the tree up.

At home, we warmed up last night's leftover 'cattlemen's pie' {aka, shepherd's pie} for dinner and ate together before diving into the task of taking ornaments, lights, tree stand and board, and all the other Christmas decor out of the attic. We put on Christmas music and the kids ran off to find a Christmas movie on television. Meanwhile, Jim and I went outside to unload the tree and get it in the stand.

I'd hate to sound bitter, but working with Jim on certain projects is about my least favorite thing because he doesn't talk {at all} and he is 'all up inside his head' as I like to put it--totally focused and determined to get the job done right. And if I dare to say it, he even acts as if I should obviously know exactly what to do to assist him without him even telling me! The worst usually comes when I have the audacity to begin to think to myself what a fine wife I am being to help him so diligently, calmly, quietly, without complaining, with speed and efficiency, even thinking ahead without being asked, and then...come to realize he doesn't even notice my helpfulness, or worse yet, he responds with agitation. Usually this puts me in a mood, because such an effort to be that kind of wife surely deserves a look, a word, even a slight nod of affirmation in my general direction. NAY. Nothing. This time, the nod came from within as I was pleased with myself for my unusual amount of patience over the course of the whole day, really. Something I should definitely try to go for in other such situations. It's a good thing I am not 'needy' for emotional connection with my husband as I believe I once was early on. It is sad to say, but we are in a season where it is hard to connect with each other as he is gone early, home late, coaching every spare minute, but that is just the way it is and we make it work. I am joyful to say that we love each other through it all, and my job is to love and honor him no matter if he notices how 'good' I am being or not. I think having my new camera to play with today gave me something to do, so I was more patient this year with how long these projects take with my type A husband. I am kept busy noticing the beauty, light, and angles with a new-found artist's eye, so that's kind of fun.

 

We got the tree in the house, and I snapped photos while Catie happily helped her Daddy with the lights. She couldn't wait to decorate with the ornaments, but it was so late by the time the lights were done, that we told her she'd have to wait until after school tomorrow. I love her enthusiasm. We had to drag the two big kids away from the tv to come in when the lights were going on. They had a long day of basketball, too, though.