Cutting the Christmas Tree

11-24

Matt picked out a fun spot for us to cut down this year's Christmas trees. Yes, I said trees! We cut down two and set up one in the sun room and one in the living room. But you know that we couldn't just go out to the woods, cut down a tree, and drive home again. No way! We brought sleds and winter gear and did some sledding and playing in the snow. It took a little bit to find our groove with the sledding. Charlie and Alanna figured it out quickly; the whole 'use your feet to stop yourself' thing worked great. As for the little girls, Matt and I stumbled our way through a few runs before finding a system. On the first run, Molly and Hattie did great. Matt sent them down the road and I caught them at the end. Then Matt pulled them back up and I didn't catch them so the girls went way further down the road than expected, thankfully not falling off or going off the road. Then Matt pulled them back up and I caught them, only this time they were going as fast as the time before but I knew I had to catch them so I grabbed onto the front of the sled sending both girls face-down into the snowy gravel road. Awesome. They both came up crying. Sheesh! On the fourth (fifth?) run, I declared myself the puller and releaser of the girls and Matt to be the catcher. It finally worked! We found a little system for them! Matt and I could have partnered with each of the girls and just gone sledding with them but we only had three sleds (one for Charlie, one for Alanna, and one for the little girls to share). Sledding in the mountains is no joke. In fact, Charlie went off into the trees at one point and started crying. When I asked him what happened, he said, "I DERAILED!!" Haha! It was hilarious only because he didn't get hurt. One other time when he went into the trees he came back with a bloody nose. Not as funny. Anyway, Matt successfully cut down (and hauled, and strapped down, and...) two Christmas trees for us AND loaded up several 6-foot logs to bring back for firewood. It was a fun outing!

 Charlie and Alanna are up the road quite a ways. They had a blast. 

 See how the road still has gravel spots? Molly found one of those with her face during the aforementioned dive off the sled. It only bled in two tiny spots, thankfully. 

 Alanna, smiling the whole way down!

 Charlie was having a great time as well!

 A little picnic lunch; pbjs and clementines in the snow.