Tree huntin

It's one of my favorite Christmas traditions. When I was a child, we used to get together with my cousins and grandparents and we trekked all over our land in search of the perfect tree. The only problem is that we never could find it! The problem was that the perfect trees just don't grow around there. But we had a ton of great Charlie Brown trees that smelled like heaven (cedar trees). Then we took our find home and spent the evening decorating. I have always liked to decorate, but that part is nothing compared to the hunt! Maybe this is what guys feel when they are on the hunt for a deer, or elk, or antelope, or any of the other game they hunt! Anyway, I love it!

So when Sean and I were married, we started a new version of the old tradition. We got our small group together and drove about an hour up to the Snowy Mountains for "the hunt." There is usually a lot more snow up there than there ever was at home. There are also a lot of perfect trees! But there are also a lot of rules, so that still makes the hunt exciting:-) So we have had this hunt planned for quite a while. The week leading up to Saturday was VERY cold. I was pretty worried about taking especially Weston out in the weather, but God blessed up with a much nicer day! We loaded everyone up and headed out early in the morning. There weren't as many kids this year as usual, but you can be sure all the Watson descendants were there (along with brave little Lori Lind!)!

First stop: SLEDDING! You can't enjoy a Christmas tree hunt in the snow without at least a little sledding! The hill wasn't the best ever and the sleds could use a little waxing, but it was fun none the less!

Sarah wasn't so sure about the sled and she was thinking it might be better if her daddy carried her, which he was all too happy to do!

When Tyler first started coming along for the hunt, he was not so fond of the sled either, but as he has gotten much braver and now he enjoys it very much!

He also likes to make snow angels! We would be walking along and all of a sudden he would just jump up and do a somersault in the middle of the path! While it was very cute, when you have a 20+ pound baby strapped to the front of you, it is hard to see what is happening on the trail ahead and several times, I almost stepped on the little boy in front of me doing gymnastics in the snow!

Weston was a little trooper! I was afraid eh would get cold or bored, but he never complained. Not even when it started snowing and blowing it in his face. He is going to be an outdoorsman for sure! Granted, there was no way the cold could have gotten through all his layers:-)

We had to find 4 trees this year, so while Daddy was still out getting trees, the kids, our good friends James and Jessica, and I spent a little time in the vehicle. Out in the trees, the wind wasn't bad, but once we got out to the parking lot, it was howling, so we decided it was better to stay inside. We had a good time playing around with the camera while waiting! Pictured above is Jessica, goofball, and Sarah.

Goofball again! It is so hard lately to get a normal smile from this one!

And James by Tyler. He is becoming quite the little photographer. I had to erase 8 identical pictures of the carpet in the living room the other day from my camera! When I was going through them, I thought the camera was broken because the picture didn't change. Nope, there were really 8 pics of the same, very exciting carpet!

After the hunt, we all went back to the church and enjoyed a lunch together of baked sandwiches, soup, chili, and lots of goodies for dessert. Even though we were all exhausted when we finally got home, we pushed through it and decorated the tree! Tyler was a great help this year and he hung all the lower ornaments. The only problem is that Weston can reach them! He has been pretty good so far, but we still have a long way to go before the tree comes down! And yes, he is walking quite a bit now! He is such a big boy!

We hope that you all have had a wonderful time as a family decorating for Christmas! It really doesn't matter how you get your tree, it can still be such a good family tradition getting ready to remember the birth of Jesus Christ!