Last Friday we drove out to Kuipers Family Farm with Joel an Kate to cut down our Christmas trees. It's hard to believe it has been a whole year since we did this last year, and yet a lot has happened as well: we had Tenny (who is now 6 months old!), found and moved into our house, and had a whole summer's worth of adventures. What's the saying, the days are long but the years are short?

It was oh sooo so cold! Poor little Tenny's nose and cheeks were all rosy. I found abandoned bird nests in mutliple trees (should those be a discount or should they charge extra?) We found a nice tall and skinny tree, a perfect fit for the space, since we have rather tall ceilings and also needed room to walk around it. This year we didn't have to sneak the tree in and nervously sweep pine needles off of the back steps! Now that we live in our own house we can declare fresh trees for everyone, always and forever! Then we went into the farm store for hot apple cider and donuts.

What a wonderful tradition: bringing a whole living tree into your house and stringing it with twinkling lights, and seeing Indy's excitement renews my appreciation and wonder.