The Griswold's Get a Tree

Saturday we decided to venture out to Albany and cut our own Christmas tree. We bundled Asher up in his new Lightning McQueen snow boots and hit the road. He fell asleep on the 15 minute drive but was quickly awakened by the bright sunshine and the fact that there were two dogs running around the farm.














It was pretty chilly so we didn't take too long picking out the tree. Dad expertly cut it down while Mom and Ash watched.















All was going great as we dragged the tree out of the woods and headed for the car. But once we started to think about how to get the tree into/onto the car things started to get a little like National Lampoon's.

The tree we thought was so tiny in the woods, ended up being an 8 footer! We had imagined putting half the tree in the trunk and letting the rest hang out - with a bungee to secure everything. Um yeah, that wasn't going to work!

So on top of the car it went, wrapped in a tarp and tied to the doorhandles with twine. Seemed like a plan that could work. We opened the sunroof cover to keep an eye on it and we headed for home.

In the first mile we stopped 2 times to catch the tree before we lost it on the road. We hadn't even gone over 30 mph! This was going to take forever! But the second stop brought some insight and I won't name names, but someone suggested tying it to the hood like a canoe so it would stop sliding off the back. Voila! We were back up to 55 mph in no time.





We almost lost the tarp, which in hindsight was pretty much unnecessary, but we made it home in one piece. Next year hopefully we'll be more prepared and won't look like clueless yuppy city folk.

We got the tree inside and that's when we realized it was so big - it was about an inch from the ceiling! And Mom was worried it was too small!

We decorated tonite as a family and we all had a great time starting our own family traditions. And the tree looks perfect! Stop by and see it sometime!