Chop It Down

We had a very busy day on Saturday. After we piled both kids, our housemate, my mom, the dog and all our gear for the day into the truck, Daddy-O and I hopped in and we headed to Plumas County, California to hunt for a Christmas tree. The forest service allows you to cut your own for around $10 or $15, a heck of a deal for a nice big tree!

We met up with our neighbors and good friends about half way there in Chilcoot, CA and caravanned the rest of the way to the turn off onto forest service land.

O could hardly wait to get out of the car and into the snow. He was instantly wet and refused to wear his jacket. (note to self, make getting into water resistant snow clothes a non-negotiable issue. A cold, wet kid is no fun).

The first order of business when we go tree hunting is to get a little 'warming station' set up and ready to go. This means hot water for cocoa and cider and bratwursts on the grill. There were marshmallows for the kids cocoa and peppermint schnapps for the adults.

This year we also had to make sure the littlest hunters were toasty warm, so a bit of snuggling and bundling up was necessary.

Then the hunt begins

Scouting out trees (and making/dodging snowballs)

photo by my mom

And some family pictures have to be snapped. The Geo-family:

and us:

photo by my mom

See Fifi's little feet sticking out by my belly. Love the ergo carrier and so glad she finally fits in it now. She was fast asleep while we hunted for our tree.

At last,

 a tree is found and agreed upon.

TIMBER!

This is the part in the story where I am glad that Daddy-O is strong. O got really cold and SUPER fussy. He HAD to be carried and he had to be carried by Daddy. So the entire way back to the truck Dad lugged not just the tree, but the boy too. See that little blue peaking from the bows of the tree- that's the kid! We need to remember a sled next time!

 

Back at the truck, we swapped into some dry clothes and shoes and piled in to get warmed up while the guys strapped the trees to the roof. As you can see, sleepy time wasn't far away for O, he was out within minutes of this photo.

photo by my mom

We headed to Greagle where we met up with Daddy-O's family for dinner and then headed to Portola for the Santa Train. I will post about that on Thursday.