O Christmas Tree

When we left Virginia on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, our original plan was to stop at a hotel that night and make it home mid-Sunday. However, after hitting the road, we were itching to get home and Jake and I decided to try and do the whole drive in one shot. Well, the kids were less than thrilled. They love staying in hotels, and they do not enjoy being stuck in a car for so long. So instead of just laying it out like it was - that we are the parents and we'll decide what we want - we gave them a little enticement of promising to get our Christmas tree on Sunday if we drove straight through. And although we encountered a little resistance after that, it was enough of a reward to get them to stick it out. They can be good troopers when they want to be! 

After 5 years of picking out Christmas trees from living tree farms, last year when we had just arrived in Mississippi we were unable to find one around here. So we ended up buying an overpriced fir at a tree tent on the side of the road and we were so disappointed. The thing died so quickly and was a sad sight well before Christmas Day. So this year, we were determined to find a living tree farm and were thrilled to stumble across one not too far from home. The owners of the farm said that Mississippi is too far south to grow fir trees, so these trees were Leyland Cypress trees, but we didn't mind because we're used to going with the 'local' trees available. The trees still look beautiful and decorate well, but the only thing missing was the traditional 'smell' of the Christmas tree. 

On the hunt...

 They had handed out candy canes at the office:

 The girls:

 A Will-sized tree!

 We finally decided on this tree:

Inside the office they even had a photo op for pictures with Santa. I love Will's pouty lip.

Then we went home and decorated the tree!

Bella wanted a photo of daddy in the silly toddler-sized Santa hat. He's such a good sport!

And although we failed to get a complete 'after' shot of the decorated tree, here is what it looked like on Christmas morning. By this point, the limbs had started to droop a little and the pearls weren't set in their neat rows anymore, but I still think it's a good looking tree!