Today we set out on our annual pilgrimage to Ovando with our neighbors to cut down our Christmas trees in the forest. As tradition goes, we had lunch first at Trixie's, which was as yummy, fried, and fun as ever.
They had hoar frost all over up there; it was really beautiful.
Our intrepid group, ready to head out to get our trees!
We tried a new part of the forest this year (Christina sprained her ankle a week ago, and was hoping not to have to climb so much of the mountain this year!). Our friends brought a sled, and Emma began pulling Clara off into the forest.
Soon Elena jumped in too, and Steve took over the pulling.
As is their fickle way, fairly soon into the forest Elena and Clara both decided they didn't want to sit in a sled anymore. Being the fantastic Dad he is, Steve toted and guided them, while Christina semi-hobbled and followed behind taking pictures. Here Clara was telling Christina: "Look, it's a tunnel!" about this tree bent over the path.
Super Dad, the tree chopping champion!
Clara, oh Clara. Without saying too much that will embarrass her in later years, let's just say that she frequents a restroom more than almost anyone we know. And she's very good about it, and hasn't had an accident in ages, and really doesn't want to have an accident, either. And even after three trips to the bathroom at Trixie's, she found herself in the middle of a snowy forest. So she and Christina headed back to the car a little bit early.
Steve took care of getting the tree out of the forest, while neighbor Blake took over getting Elena out of the forest! You can see Elena didn't mind a bit.
Elena got her photo collage a few days ago - here is Clara, in her may faces of pout and prettiness. (We had some time to kill at the truck while we waited for the others to find their trees).
Steve trimmed up the tree on the side of the truck, and then turned around and told Clara that this was our tree. You can see she mostly knows it's a joke...mostly.
Favorite post-tree-cutting ritual - hot chocolate with candy canes!
We were trying for a good group shot in the woods. The light was waning, but we got a pretty good one:
Clara didn't have an entirely bad time...she and Christina got to get over their frustrations and have lots of silly time together.
And little snow-loving Elena got lots of sledding time in with her Dad and Blake, so she as pretty happy too. We had the fewest tears on the drive we've ever had (actually - no real tears!! Just bit of whining) and we attribute that to their vast maturity and also the fact that we let them watch Frosty and Rudolph shows in the car.
As we were leaving Ovando, we saw these elk passing over a ridge. We stopped and stared. Christina later commented that she was thinking how beautiful they looked. Steve commented that he was thinking he'd found his next hunting spot. Hmmm....
The tree was full of snow and ice when we got it home, so it is currently thawing and dripping - tomorrow morning, we decorate!
No comments:
Post a Comment