Tree Hunting

On Saturday, Josh and I joined some dear friends for what (I hope!) is going to be a yearly tradition; we went to a lovely tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree.

It was the perfect day for a tree-hunting adventure. There was some freshly fallen snow on the ground (with a forecast predicting even more!), and it was actually still pretty warm outside. Last year we were freezing, but this year we had more time to hem and haw over the quintessential conifer. 

The owners of this particular tree farm sure know how to bring on the Christmas spirit! There's hot cider, a beautifully decorated barn with decorations for sale, a fire pit outside for chilly hands, hay rides, and even a wood stove inside so you can warm up before heading out into the winter wonderland. 

 
We grabbed two big sleds for the trees, and headed out into the "forest" of evergreens. It took a while to find the perfect tree for both of us couples. Nick and Cindy found theirs first, so Nick cut it down and even trimmed off the top, which would make a perfect "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" in my opinion.

Josh and I had more trouble finding our tree. I must confess, I am used to having a fake tree (that's what we used last year, but we still went with the Germann's to pick out their tree), and I was taken aback by the misshapen trees all over. Like this little dude below, whom Josh joked about taking home with us. But since all of the trees were evenly priced at $40 (yikes!) we decided to keep looking.

Finally, we found "The One." It was nice and tall (we were hoping for an 8 foot tree since we have nice high ceilings), so we chopped it down and loaded it onto the sled for the ride back to the car.

While Nick and Josh took the trees to be bagged up, Cindy and I decided to explore the beautifully decorated barn for a bit.

I just love that the tree farm has a fun little shopping area too! I haven't purchased anything there yet, but it's still so fun to wander through and get ideas as you window shop.

They use lots of natural elements in the decor, like pinecones that I'm sure come right from their property. I love the twinkly lights that they hang to really transform the old barn as well. 

There's an assortment of antiques and handmade goods, and they are all grouped into Christmas-y vignettes. 

I really love this gigantic hanging wreath. It would be so beautiful in a large entryway, and easy to create out of some leftover tree branches, lights, and flowers.

We planned to tie our tree onto the top of the car for the ride home, but it ended up fitting perfectly in the back of Nick and Cindy's truck along with their tree. Nice! So we headed back to our place for some warm beverages and cookies.

Now that Josh and I have been married for over two years (this is our third Christmas together now!), it's fun to see some of our very own traditions beginning to emerge. I hope this tree-farm expedition continues!

I don't have the "official" decorated tree photos yet, but hopefully this slightly blurry one will suffice for now. As you can see, the top of the tree almost touches the highest point of our vaulted ceiling. Yikes! What we thought was an 8 foot tree ended up being almost 11 feet tall! So it's definitely going down in history as "The Year of the Mammoth Christmas Tree."

We had to buy extra lights, and I'm thinking it might need a few more ornaments to balance it out (but only super-on-sale ones!). So, have you put up your tree yet?