Darn Happy: Madness, we tell you

This weekend we made our yearly trek with our friends from the neighborhood to a forest in Ovando, MT to find ourselves a tree. You'll recall that the girls did this the past two years, too. Once they were not really conscious (slept through the whole thing) and one year they were very portable, and we carried them gamely through the woods.

This year, they are definitely not babies. They are BIG GIRLS, as they will tell you all the time. And forget the 'Big girls don't cry' saying - these girls cried the entire hour-long trip out to the forest, because they were "all done" in the car. Since their longest car ride around town is 10 minutes, they are just not used to travel.

Things looked up when we got to the pre-tree-cutting lunch at Trixie's diner. The girls had a great time playing foosball:

And Elena, especially, ate a big lunch. Happily, we packed in the car and drove the 10 minutes to the forest. Here's Elena decked out in her snow gear:

Clara was a bit more wary of the snow pants. In retrospect, we all should have been. They had never walked in these before, and it turned out some more practice was needed:

Because of unusually-puffy-legs, we carried the girls up the road and into the pretty steep hills of the forest. Whew. Then, Elena got sick (perhaps a bit too much chocolate milk and fries at that lunch...) and also demanded her nose be wiped every two seconds. Here is Christina, trying to oblige:

Clara went with Steve and held up a bit better at first. She seemed to like looking for a tree:

And she also liked the way her dad taught her to dust them off, so as to get a good idea of how their branches would stand up:

Elena had quickly had enough of the forest, and wanted to be in Christina's arms full-time. As a big girl, this is a difficult option (she is finally gaining the weight a two year old should have!):

Shortly thereafter, Clara decided that's what she wanted, too. Christina couldn't hold them both, they wouldn't be satisfied or distracted with anything else, and we needed to high-tail it out of there. Steve picked the best tree we could find at the moment, and Christina skidded down the hills with two very unhappy girls, and Steve bravely dragged our equipment and tree. When we got back to the truck, three of the four of us were crying (we'll leave you to guess who was who).

We skipped the communal cookies and hot chocolate, said abrupt goodbyes to the neighbors, and headed home. Tears on the drive back, more runny noses and cries of "all done" and ALL of us were relieved to see home. As Christina said, "This was worse than when we were trapped in the flooding and tornado warnings in Wisconsin!!" None of us are eager to relive either journey.

We were a bit sorry that the tree we had hastily grabbed was not sufficiently sturdy to support the tree topper, nor most of our ornaments. But we were trying to make the best of it.

Then, a knock at the door. And a louder knock. And when we opened it, we saw two huge and beautiful trees, and heard the cries of "Merry Christmas!" It was our neighbors, whom we had ditched at the forest. They had cut two beautiful trees for us to choose from, and we very gratefully donated the one we had hauled home to be made into wreaths, and accepted one of their beauties. They brought us a thermos of home-made hot chocolate, a plate of cookies, whipped cream, and candy canes. It is so wonderful to feel the love of true friends.

So, yes, madness for sure this tree-cutting time, but all is well that ends well. We are all having fun looking at the tree.

And Steve and Christina are soaking up the sweet faces and sweet words from the girls, feeling infinitely grateful that MOST days are not like that crazy day!