Oh Christmas Tree, Take Two

To inaugurate the month of December, John and I trekked back to Yule Farms for our annual cutting down of our Christmas tree. At this time last year, I had just started my blog and wrote about us beginning our tradition of chopping down our tree. To remind you of last year's adventure, the day involved lots of laughs at the run down tree farm, complete with lukewarm apple cider, a poem celebrating Christmas trees, and free stuffed animal "ornaments" to hang on our tree. 

So naturally we headed back for more laughs this year with our friends Malorie and Jason, who came along last year too. The farm experience was just as hilarious as last year as the guys pulled our cart and carried our saw in search of our perfect trees. 

On the lookout for the perfect tree...

Malorie and I watching as the guys assess the trees

 Since we are now in house with very tall ceilings, John was very excited to get a big tree this year. I was concerned about the width of the tree and was certain that the one his eye was on would be too large for the spot we'd chosen in our house. Yet since geometry and spatial reasoning are not my strong suits, I gave in.

The tree took about 10 minutes to saw down because it was so large, and then Jason and John broke out in a rash all over their arms from trying to saw the thing down.

John proudly conquered cutting down our tree!

And then when we returned home (after taking 20 minutes to tie the tree to the roof of the car), it took 45 minutes to secure in our stand. Jason held the tree upright while John tightened it in the stand. Meanwhile, Malorie and I were rearranging our living room furniture because the tree took up half the room. It blocked the entire entrance to the dining room, and the angel would have been knocked off the top by the fan. 

Needless to say, this tree was MASSIVE.

12 feet tall and way too wide. Now affectionally called the Devil Tree. 

Right after Malorie and Jason left to decorate their own tree, John turned me saying, "I hate it. It's awful." It was rather lopsided, and we would have to get a big ladder in order to hang lights and ornaments. But we decided to go make dinner and think on it. 

Then, CRASH. 

Tree down

The tree came falling down, barely missing the ceiling fan, clay nativity set on the mantle, and our lamp. But nothing was broken miraculously, and no ornaments had been hung yet. 

Next thing I knew, John was dragging the tree outside to our yard. He'd had enough of the "Devil Tree." We hopped in the car, headed to Lowe's, and picked out a beautiful 6 foot tree. We watched in awe as they sawed the bottom off evenly for us and trimmed the bottom branches. SO EASY. We folded the seats down in my SUV, threw it in, and had the tree up and decorated in no time.

Our new smaller but beautiful tree!

Our friends are still laughing, comparing our story to the Christmas Vacation movie. And my parents think it's hilarious that I never fully appreciated the work that went into cutting down our tree when I was a kid. 

So if you know anyone in need of a 12 foot Christmas tree in Atlanta, we have one sitting in our yard that they can take free of charge!