Our Christmas tree outing

We set off Thanksgiving weekend for our annual Christmas tree hunt. We have found a forest service road that has a ravine about 1-2 miles in that has lots of trees within 100 yards of the road. So, the last 4 years we have harvested our tree from that area. We know the road and the area well. We were excited because this year my mom was here and was going to experience her first 'cutting down a Christmas tree' experience.

Because we got rid of our 4 door 4WD, most of us piled in the van and drove to the forest service road. There we met JR and we all piled into his 2 door 4WD Toyota pickup. The three boys in the small area behind the seat,


Granny in the front with JR and I climbed into the bed of the truck with all the snow. Away we went. As we approached our turn out where we park, we realized the road had not been fully plowed and there was a lot of snow on the shoulder of the road. There were some people coming up behind us, so in haste to get out of the way, we pulled off on the left side of the road so they could pass. Well, here was the result......

So, JR stayed behind and fought with the chains and the truck while we played in the snow (see us in the background of the above picture-the clump of trees in the upper right is where our tree came from). We brought a sled for JB, who loved it. Poor guy, it was the first time he had a snowsuit on and he could not move much.



B found a great tree and I retrieved the saw, cut it down and drug it out.

Yes, by the time we finished playing and I got the tree down to the road, JR had gotten the truck out, but only after an hour and 15 minutes of digging, cutting down branches for traction, digging, inching forward and backward, more digging, taking the chains on and off, digging and praying. For some reason we did not have the shovel in the truck (digging by hand) and JR had not worn snow pants. Needless to say he was soaked so he headed back to the house with JB, while we took the other two sledding.



J's hat kept sliding down over his eyes but it did not stop his smile

Caught B's wipeout on film

Consoling him before we decided the day had had enough adventure and energy spent. We needed to head home before someone got hurt.


(for some reason having problems now downloading, so will post the rest of the day and pictures hopefully tomorrow.)