The cutting of the tree

This last weekend we decided to go pick out a Christmas tree, cut it down, put it up and decorate it. The place we go to is the Erratic Mammoth Tree Farm, home of a lady who makes sculptures out of metal. I wish I had a picture for you. Her sculptures are amazing. She made a woolly mammoth out of rusty metal that was pretty close to life size, hence the name. We pull into the drive and find a place to park in the soggy grass. It's raining and muddy my shoes squelch into the ground as I step out of the car. A perfect Oregon day for browsing through hundreds of trees. Here is Caveman and our baby before we set out to find the perfect tree.


Caveman had called his mother and brother to see if they wanted to go with us so they could also get a tree. Caveman's mom met us there with her husband and Josh and Emily, Caveman's brother and his daughter. Usually we use one of the hand saws that are provided to cut down our tree but luckily, Caveman's mom brought a little chain saw. That made me extremely happy because when we usually cut a tree Caveman has to get down on his knees and saw away causing him to sink lower and lower into the mud. Then he proceeds to walk around for the rest of the day with big stains on his pants. But I guess I didn't have to worry about that because he said he brought something for him to kneel on. When asked what it was he pulled out newspaper. Not a whole newspaper, just one page. One page, people! Am I the only one who knows this will have no effect on keeping his clothes clean? Here is our daughter impatiently waiting for me to take the picture.


We tromp around for awhile, wandering from tree to tree. I'll say 'this ones looks good' but then spy one a few rows away that looks even better. Upon inspection the new tree doesn't look as good as the other so I decide to go back. Except now I can't find it among the rows of green bushy triangles and the whole process repeats itself. Soon enough I find that I am not only carrying the baby, but also the chainsaw. How did this happen, I thought to myself. I say to Josh that it's so nice to be able to carry a baby and chainsaw at the same time in which he simply tells me that 'don't you know they go hand in hand?' It would have been funny if he would have taken the chainsaw off my hands, but he didn't. I think his manners are with Caveman's somewhere in a dirty ditch where they left them years ago because guess who relieved me of my burden?


Their mother. Finally we pick one and get it cut and loaded. There are many other people loading trees on cars, in trucks and sticking out of trunks. I love seeing Christmas trees on cars going down the road. (sorry it's so blurry)

I also love this bridge when they line it with the flags.