The Christmas Tree Farm

We've discovered the exception to the well known phrase "everything is bigger in Texas"...Christmas trees.  (I feel like I have to give Texas a break though - we do live in a perpetual drought - how big could we really grow trees here anyhow?)  I thought we'd wait a week into December to give our tree the best chance of staying alive until Christmas, but that meant all the good ones were taken and we were hunting through short trees.  

In cold weather.  

In unseasonably frigid temperatures.  

In "Texas style" winter clothes.

Did I mention the wind?

I did ask myself about a zillion times what in the world I was thinking (this was my idea) as we walked across the fields hoping to find the perfect tree.  Eventually we agreed we'd settle for a decently shaped tree that was about six feet tall.  Then we decided we'd take a decently shaped tree, any height.  Seriously, at one point when my toes went numb and I couldn't feel my fingers I wanted to grab the saw and cut down the next tree I came to, which just happened to be a tree that was about two feet tall and sparse.  Talk about your Charlie Brown tree.

Just as were considering purchasing one of the beautiful pre-cut noble firs that had arrived the day before, Dustin spotted a nicely shaped, five foot tall Leland Cypress.  It's not an evergreen.  It doesn't reach the ceiling, but the boys cut it down together and I am absolutely enamored with our little tree.

This year wasn't about the perfect tree - the right shape, the right size, the right type of needles.  It was about a memory from my childhood and the start of a new tradition for us during Christmas.  Because there is so much more to Christmas than what they try to sell us on TV or what we try to convince ourselves it should be.  My only goal this year is to put aside our expectations and focus on what matters most - preparing for the coming of our Lord during Advent, and celebrating his birth during Christmas.

I had a moment where I thought our adventure to cut down a tree would turn into a huge disappointment, leaving us feeling cheated of what we expected to come home with - but God has placed a child in our lives who cares more about the process than he does about the product - and the process is exactly the tradition we set out to begin.  It might just be the most beautiful tree we've ever decorated.  

Success.

Cutting down the tree

Alex helped cut down the tree

Ready to take home

Wrapping the tree for the trip home

Putting up the train around the tree