The Great Tree Hunt!

The weekend after Turkey Day, we finished dinner with Obachan and Grandpa, gave Noahnator a bath and drove home at o-dark thirty from Tahoe. It's easier to drive when Noah sleeps! We got home and slept for a few hours, had breakfast and enjoyed sitting on our own couch for a hot minute and the piled back into the car to go on our annual Christmas Tree Hunt in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

We met at Grammy and Papa Long's house and Noah quickly joined Uncle Nathan and Cousin Sierra for some playtime with a new toy! Damien, Chesna and Soren weren't going to make it, so after a "do we go? do we not go?" debate, we decided to go anyway. Last year we went up to Crest Ranch, it is so beautiful, but this year we weren't up for the long haul to Bonny Doon. Instead, we went up Zyante Road (not really a road if you ask me, more of an insane bike trail!). to Summit Road and went to a cute little farm with another beautiful view. Sadly, I don't remember the name of it, but they had great trees and a $35 flat rate! Can't beat that.

While I battled with the Moby Wrap, Grandpa Ron, Uncle Nathan and Cousin Sierra went off into the farm. I hadn't used the wrap in a while and Noah has grown, so I needed to adjust the way I usually tied the darn thing. I love the wrap, but when I just want to toss him in and go, it is a bit of a pain! Anyway, I ditched the Moby and hooked Noah on my hip so we could catch up and get to sizing up the trees. Each year it is usually the same thing:

The ones right in the front of the lot are always soooo pretty. But what is the fun in cutting down the first tree you see; without walking through the rows and rows of the sweet smelling pine and chasing the beams of sunshine through the needles? Instead, we walk up and down the isles. Weave in and out of the prickly branches. Critique that strange gap, the floppy top or the lopsidedness of the tree. The next one is too tall, and the next is too short. The one after that is too full and the next is too scrawny. At some point, I always seem to suggest that we get the most pathetic looking tree, "Lets just get this one, it's a Charlie Brown Tree," I shout out behind a giggle or two. My silliness is usually met by Jason shaking his head and continuing the hunt!

By now all the trees look alike and we are all getting tired and no tree is looking good enough. So we decide to go back to find the one or two trees that we said we would "come back to." RIGHT. I dare you to find the ONE tree you liked 20 minutes and 30 trees ago! We always try though. We are never sure, but manage to get in the same area (I think) and we convince ourselves that this is the tree we liked, and to avoid yet critique session, Jason gets down and saws away as I watch...this year Noah and I watched and took pictures and cheered him on!

This year was no different, except this year there were kids! Sierra hit the ground running after a short nap in the car. Literally, she ran and ran and ran. Stopping once, just long enough to help Papa cut his tree, and didn't stop again until we reached the parking lot where she would not step foot on the concrete without holding the hand of an adult! What a good girl!

The only downfall of the smaller farm is the that there was no hot cider, hot chocolate or hot dogs to snack on when the Great Tree Hunt is said and done! Well, Noah's snack bar was open! While the boys tied the trees to our cars, Noah had a snack and Sierra and I had an insanly cute conversation about milk. She is always so curious when I nurse Noah. I let her watch and we always end up in a conversation about her as a baby and her mommy's milk, this time though, she was convinced that, "when Daddy gets his milk," she would taste it! SOOOOO CUTE! I then had to explain that only mommy's got milk (which isn't entirely true, but that is a whole 'nother story :) ha!). In the end she wasn't fully satisfied with my answer, but was pleasantly distracted by her "delicious candy cane" and took off running again!
After the trees, we had yet another delicious Turkey Dinner with the Long family. We ate some amazing pies, let the babies roll around in the living room, exchanged names for a secret Santa and exchanged ornaments! This year we got a B-E-A-UTIFUL butterfly ornament from Nathan and Sierra. So, two years in a row of trees, turkey, ornaments and Secret Santa....we are on our way to a family tradition with the Longs!


this year... last year...