Mission : Christmas Tree

We decided to forgo The Home Depot lot this year and travel to the Heritage Valley Christmas Tree Farm in Washington, Missouri, about an hour from our house. I was told they had a "very limited supply" of Canaan firs (which is what we wanted), but we decided to take our chances. We bundled up and hit the road!

The search begins (it was indeed pretty picked over already)

Charlotte loved riding in the sled

After much, much debate, we settled on this lovely one.

Timber!

Nicholas has a go at pulling the sled

Tom had to take over. Isn't the setting beautiful? We're sold on cutting our own tree.

This is Nicholas and I riding back to the fir field for my sunglasses...which amazingly we spotted from the tractor. Nicholas didn't mind one bit getting to ride with me.

I think Charlotte enjoyed the farm!

None of these photos would have been possible were it not for the generous nature of a fellow tree farm goer. The batteries on my camera died as I took my first photo, and I had no backups! I asked several people if they had extras I could buy, but finally gave up, deciding to make the most of the day without worrying about pictures. But as I reached my family (who had gone ahead of me as I was on a crazy battery quest), I asked one last mom with a camera bag if she had extras. She gave some batteries to me and refused to let me pay her for them. She reminded me that next year my kids would be totally different, and I needed to capture them today. Now that's the spirit of Christmas! Thank you, kind stranger!