best looking trees
We usually wait to get our Christmas tree until mid December, since we want to leave it up through Twelfth Night and those trees only have so much life in em. But this year the talk of grave shortages was unavoidable, so I started to wonder if we should move ahead of schedule. And when my mom pointed out that having the tree outside at our house was no different that letting it sit at the farm, that convinced me. So we went to get one yesterday.
tree shopping tradition
It was a delightful outing with our friends at the end of our school day together, and once again I have to say how much I appreciate living right around the corner from Chip-In Farm. So much so that I didn't even mind (too much) paying an inflated Covid shortage price for this year's tree, 30% over last year's. Where else does the owner call you by name and offer to get the tree on your car? I felt bad that it took him longer to tie it on that it was going to take us to drive home, but he said he didn't mind.
not the final choice
Besides the tree, we looked in at the animals, admired the new pony (who the littlest member of our group got to ride for a moment!), and enjoyed the general farminess. The kids got treats (the candy-cane fudge is only available in December!). We sat at the picnic table and loved life. And now we have a tree, and the news about shortages need bother us no more! (Although, now that I look back in the archives December 6 is only a couple days later than our average tree purchase date...)