Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

A real Christmas Tree, is a tradition I have kept up every year, except for two years when I was taking a break from all the decorating.  Some years the tree's may have sometimes been cut down for me and purchased in a parking lot, but they were real.

Last year it was quite a challenge to find a real tree.  The parking lots were so picked over, only one or two left... and those had probably been sitting there for a month after having been harvested and shipped several hundred miles.  That just wasn't acceptable, so I started doing some research to find a tree farm and to support a local business.  I finally found two within a reasonable distance, but due to how late we were shopping, one of the farms was already closed for the season.  Off to the other we went.  We did love it, it  was so cute and the owners were so inviting. Very cute cottage all decorated and treats waiting when we were done to help us warm up.

This year we tried the second "local" farm.  It was not as manicured as the other farm, but charming in it's own way.  It was just like walking out in the woods to find your tree. This year it was strange walking through the field since there wasn't a single snow flake on the ground. BUT, it was nice to not be frozen and shivering during the event.....  (Yes, I am a little "princessy", and not very tough when it comes to dealing with winter conditions.)  With the first couple tree's I picked out, my boyfriend had to remind me of our ceiling height.  We finally found that perfect tree, and it was a balsam!  I was so excited...  I have never had a balsam for a Christmas Tree before.

We (he) cut the tree down, then we (he) went to retrieve the truck and bring it to the tree, so we didn't have to drag it up and over the hill.  Back to the store we went for some hot apple cider and cookies.  We even bought some treats for ourselves while in the store.  Real Wisconsin Maple Syrup, and Wild Rice harvested in northern Wisconsin.  Once we got home, we had to trim the top just a little bit to make it fit. NOW...  if only the lights in storage still worked so that I could finish decorating the tree.  Maybe tomorrow!