Stayin' Alive

That's right, this year our tree is actually thriving and it looks like it's going to be fresh and lovely on Christmas Day. I love a live tree. But over the years it's been hit and miss in respect to keeping ours, well, alive. Last year our beautiful tree dried up after only a few days. It was depressing to look at the droopy, brittle branches all month and I definitely did not "cry the day I took the tree down." But this year we were very careful to do all the things we believe help to keep a tree perky until Christmas Day. (Pick a good one to begin with, make a fresh cut on the trunk, water very faithfully - even in the middle of the night for the first week! I'd love to know any other tips. I will have to scour Pinterest.) And, so far so good. Maybe not a very exciting post, but this is big time around here!

We also love this tree because we had such a festive and fun time picking it out at Faust Creek Farms. (The Fowles, some friends who moved from our neighborhood a few years ago, have a farm in Faust. This kids were so excited to be driving out west, close to the location of our favorite summer camping spot.)

Santa (or "that cowboy pretending to be Santa," as Gabe put it) loaded us up for a hay ride over to the little tree lot. We spotted a perfect tree almost immediately, but stuck around for delicious pulled-pork and cole slaw sandwiches and hot chocolate. We also checked out the chickens, goats, and extra fat pigs. We plan on making this trip a tradition. And hopefully successfully keeping the tree alive will be one too...