A good old fashioned Griswold family Christmas

We have always had a fresh Christmas tree. Starting about a month ago, Chad and I tossed around the idea of buying an artificial tree. It seemed convenient and un-messy and the idea of being able to put it up on November 1 and still have it looking good at the end of December appealed to me. Not so appealing: the price tag! In order to get something relatively natural-looking yet not spend a fortune, we decided maybe we'd be better off waiting til Boxing Day and picking something up on sale.

Thus it was on Saturday morning that we packed up, loaded into the Pilot and went out to Sloan's Tree Farm. Not only were we going to get a fresh tree again this year, but we were going to chop it down ourselves and get the entire experience. Chad had visions of Clark W. Griswold dancing through his head as he declared this to be the start of the Best Christmas Season Ever. He dreamed of us finding the perfect tree... of how the clouds would part and angels would sing when we found it:

Liam had other ideas. He was none too pleased to be tramping around out in the woods trying to find a tree; he wondered why the heck we weren't down at the corner tree lot buying it the same way we always did. As a result, we didn't spend hours searching for just the right tree; we chopped down the first one that looked decent, loaded it up, had it baled and Chad lugged it back out to the car. Liam's mood improved remarkably once we got back to the Christmas Village. For $5 a person you can spend all day there, going on pony rides and horse and wagon rides and train rides, and climbing on jungle gyms, and decorating Christmas cookies and sitting around campfires snacking on fair food like kettle corn and onion rings and sausages on a bun. Liam loved the pony rides, even though here he just looks like he's holding on for dear life: And, the petting zoo was a hit. One of Liam's favourite words today has been 'sheep'.
Still, nothing put a smile on his face like getting into the car to go home. Maybe in the future he will come to appreciate Sloan's a little more; it is really pretty impressive, and a great way to spend a day, assuming you can handle the cold. I think we will hold off on getting that artificial tree for another couple of years and give it at least one more shot.