Thanksgiving 2013 and our $226 Christmas Tree!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY

We made a decision last year to toss our old fake tree, which of course meant that this year, come Thanksgiving we had no choice but to go and get one in the woods.  Even though Anna and I both have memories of real Christmas trees in our homes growing up, it had been at least 7-8 years since either of us had had a real tree so in the words of Clark Griswold, "We kicked off our fun old fashioned family Christmas by heading out to the country in our ole front (err four) wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and to select that most important of Christmas symbols...the Taylor Family Christmas tree!"

(Just a disclaimer, in no way is the Christmas tree the most important symbol of the Christmas holiday so don't get out of sorts.  Christmas Vacation, the movie, is one of our favorites and I couldn't have summed up our adventure in any other way then that.) 

We took Autumn along for the ride and headed up into the Jemez where there was actually a decent amount of snow left on the ground from the storm we got a couple weeks ago.   We couldn't have asked for a nicer day, the weather was great, the sun was out the whole time and the temps stayed reasonable for having an infant out in the cold.  It took us four stops and a lot of hiking in the woods before we found the tree but when we did, we knew it was the one.   the tree was perfect!    After cutting it down and loading it onto the top of the Explorer we headed back down the mountain.  By this time it was pretty late in the afternoon and the long shadows were crossing the road making it hard to catch everything and at some point I hit a sizable rock that I didn't see at all.   Didn't really think anything of it until about a mile later when my tire pressure low buzzer went off.   Uh-oh.    I pulled off the dirt road about a mile from pavement and I could hear the air.    The rock I hit must have been a big one because it sliced a hole in the side of my right front tire.  

Funny, I kind of surprised myself.  I didn't get upset, didn't even let it mess up my mood, the whole day had been so great.  We just unpacked everything from the back, changed the flat and got back on the road.     Praise the Lord it happened when we were only a couple miles from pavement and that the roads weren't worse.   We had to keep the speed slow on the way back to Albuquerque, but by the time we got there, I'd called ahead to the Ford dealership, they had a tire ready for us and by 5pm, the Ford was back to normal, the tree was in the house and we were all ready for a nap.  

So our $10 tree permit ended up costing us a bit more in the end but it was all worth it, we had a great day and have a beautiful Christmas tree.   This is going to be a fun season of memories with Addison and even though she probably won't remember any of this first Christmas, we want to make it special so that years from now she'll see what crazy parents she has.

HEADED OUT TO LOOK FOR A TREE

MY BEAUTIFUL LADIES

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THE TREE IS ABOUT 6 FEET ABOVE ME

LOADING...BEFORE THE FLAT TIRE...

OH DEAR LORD, THAT IS A 12' CEILING!!

MINUS 3 FEET...

CHECKING OUT THE LIGHTS

THANKSGIVING CONCERT

My nephew Brandon gave us a short concert before dinner on Thanksgiving Day.  Addison loved it, as did we.

She's growing up so fast.   She cruises around the house crawling so fast it's hard to keep up with her.  She loves to play chase, get into stuff that she probably shouldn't and her favorite no-no is the dog water.  

 She's standing up on her own, and cruising around the furniture which is a sure indication she'll be walking sooner rather than later.   We can't express enough in words how thankful we are that God blessed us with this nugget of goodness and joy.  We love being parents, we love this little girl, we love our Lord and Savior Jesus and can't say thanks enough.  

Lord we are grateful.