Picking a Christmas Tree

Today we braved the cold and went out and got our Christmas tree.  My husband's family has a tradition of going to a local cut your own tree farm, so we are continuing the tradition with Ella.  It is nice to help support a local family and create a tradition with our little one.

All the accessories for tree shopping, including the dog

We decided to go alllllllllllllllllll out for the adventure.  This afternoon we were the stereotypical overdo it type family because not only did we take the baby, the camera, and .......the dog!  Poor Jason had to pull the cart to carry the tree, the saw to cut the tree down, and had to take the dog on the leash.  My hands were full carrying the camera, holding Ella and trying to keep her boots on.  They were quite stylish boots with the sequins, but they are a little big yet so they kept falling off.

Before our adventure of picking a tree, I read the post from PBS's web site, How to Pick the Perfect Christmas Tree.  The article was quite informative and gave good tips on picking a tree.  First before you head out, be sure to measure your ceiling to figure out how tall of a tree you can fit in the house.  We have 8 foot ceilings in our living room so we had to go for a 7 foot tree to leave room for the tree stand and star on top of the tree.  The tree farm we went to had a measuring stick at the check out and would trim the bottom of the tree for you if the size needed to be adjusted, so we were set with the height of the tree.  To ensure you have a fresh tree purchase it from a farm that lets you cut your own.  Most trees are cut several weeks before they are delivered to the lots to sell.  By cutting it fresh, the needles will last longer.

Success at cutting the tree

Before choosing the tree to take home, pull on the individual branches if the needles fall off easily, the tree is probably not going to last the whole season.  If the needles are falling off before it's cut, they will really fall off after it is cut!  Be sure to pull the branches apart and inspect the trunk of the tree.  Try to find a straight trunk otherwise it will be difficult to balance on the tree stand.

Check out those snazzy boots

After we cut our tree, the tree lot trimmed the bottom of the trunk so we would be able to easily utilize a tree stand.  They then measured it to make sure it would fit in our living room, shook it to get all the dead needles and debris out of it and balled it for easy transport.  We were then off to go home and set up our tree.

When you first get your tree home remember to let it sit for 24 hours in the house before decorating so the branches can drop. Otherwise if you decorate your tree right away, everything will fall off in the night when the branches drop when adjusting to the warm house.

So now we are on to decorate a tree and try to keep an 11 month old away from the decorations.  This is going to be a fun Christmas!