Uhm, November? Where'd you go?

So, it isn't yet officially the end of November, but it might as well be.  This week is full of December.  I feel like this month FLEW by.  Wasn't it just yesterday that I threw out those gross, leaking, moldy pumpkins from October?  Goodness gracious!

The last month of the year 2010 is upon us.  So crazy.  I rented a house, graduated college, got a job, and got a fiance all in the same year!  Aside from recalling all the achievements this year brought for me, the month of December is always full of its own adventures.  Namely:

TREE HUNTING!!!!

The Christmas season is officially upon us.  The 'fresh, farm cut' Christmas tree stands have popped up on corners all over the city, and we've already seen people trucking them home on the roof of their cars.  Do those kinds of trees really last to Christmas?  

Also out are all the fake...(what? oh!)...Pardon me, I mean 'faux' Christmas tree displays at all of the stores.  Walking through Sam's Club the other day, we even saw a predecorated faux Christmas tree.  Can we say, lazy?

No, neither of those will do.  I guess you could day my family is puritan when it comes to our Christmas tree.  We go out and chop one down.  We used to go to a Christmas tree farm for as long as I could remember, but last year we went up into the forest where the Park people have opened it up for thinning out.  

Christmas tree hunting has always been full of adventures (whether it was the actual act, or the 'personality' of the tree upon returning home).  I remember more than once our tree falling over in the middle of the night.  That's when we started tying it to the wall with baling wire which we now do every year.  Picking the tree is always an adventure on it's own.  More than once, one of us children was in tears or close to it because the whole family didn't want to pick the tree we wanted.  Ah, the holidays. 

Last year when we went tree hunting up in the forest, we spent hours trying to decide on a tree.  We drove around from place to place, wandering around in the knee-high snow.  It was exciting, except that we were freezing and tired.  We eventually decided on a tree...15 ft tall.  Our ceiling in the living room is only 11 feet tall at the peak.  That was a whole new adventure.  We cut the top of the tree and tied it on lower to make it fit.  That's right. We had a jury-rigged Christmas tree, complete with a separate watering pop can for the cut off top.  

In a few weeks, my family will go out and get another Christmas tree.  I can't wait to see what this year's tree-hunting adventures have in store. :)