fun, old-fashioned family Christmas

We started our fun, old-fashioned family Christmas this evening with a trip to a local tree farm, Delp Christmas Tree Farm.  It was the first time we had been there and it was a wonderful experience.  (Other than the fact that our "lovely" camera battery was "depleted" before I could capture everything I wanted to - even though it was fully charged when I left the house!)   Here's our story...

Jake left work a little early this evening, moved Ben's car seat into his truck, and the three of us squished together for a thirty minute drive north.  Once we arrived we got our instructions for choosing and cutting our tree and headed out into the fields.  I really underestimated how long it would take to choose our tree.  We kept finding a better one - just a little further down the row...  

When we finally realized it was starting to get dark and we needed to start home, we made a family decision and selected our perfect Christmas tree.  We took a couple of pictures (before the camera died), Jake cut the tree down, and we hopped in our truck to checkout.  Back at the office, a couple of nice guys shook our tree in the Shakee (love the name), wrapped it with the netting machine, and loaded back in the truck.

 

 

 

Then we went inside to pay for our tree and have some treats by the fire.  The folks inside were very friendly and visited with us - turns out they actually know the couple that used to run the tree farm in the town where I grew up (less than 2,000 people).  What a small world!

And after our fun, old-fashioned family Christmas tree experience, we headed to our local bar and grill for cheeseburgers & fries, a couple of beers, and time with friends.  We hope to decorate our tree over the weekend, so I look forward to sharing "after" pictures with you soon.

  

Enjoy the weekend!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention one of my favorite things about  

Delp Christmas Tree Farm -

a beautiful sign at the entrance that says

Christmas begins with Christ