The Great Christmas Tree Hunt

The day after Thanksgiving is my favorite day to decorate for Christmas... and this year we were home to do it!  Not only were we home, but we had family with us to share the fun.

We headed off to the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area of Pike National Forest, which issues tree cutting permits every year.  We get beautiful, natural Colorado Christmas trees for $10, all while helping prevent forest fires.

The first stop on the itinerary is to see Smokey the Bear and be reminded that only I can prevent forest fires. I mean, YOU.  I mean, you know what I mean.

Photo by Kathleen

After that we trek off into the woods to find THE ONE TREE.  This year we ended up on pretty steep terrain, and had to hike 3/4 mi in to find any stands of soft, short-needle pines.  But then there it was.  Everyone wanted to get in on the saw action.

Photo by Kathleen

Photo by Kathleen

Photo by Kathleen

Photo by Kathleen

Photo by Kathleen

 After we ceremoniously hauled the tree back to the car, we had a "winter" cookout.  And by "winter," I mean that it was 60 degrees and sunny.  Needless to say we didn't need to bust out the hot cocoa.  We did have polish sausage on the grill and chili (made expertly the day prior by Uncle Devin).  Uncle Tyler and Aunt Monique found a tree to take home to Oklahoma, too.

Photo by Kathleen

Andrew took Callahan for a walk

 When we got home, we put the tree up in its place of honor and spent the afternoon decorating, hanging out,  and being together.  That evening we celebrated our fall birthdays (Monique, Tyler, and Travis) by making s'more cones for dessert.

We wore Callahan clear out

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I couldn't be happier to have had our dear, dear family with us for a few precious days.  As they all left, I felt really sad, and I remembered how much harder it is to be left than to leave.  Hopefully we'll be able to do this again sometime in years to come!