O Christmas Tree

We drove up in the mountains yesterday to search for the perfect Christmas tree.  It was a gorgeous day!  All I wore was a long sleeved shirt, and I didn't see a speck of snow.  That's my kind of Christmas tree hunt!  I took some pictures along the way, and I'm kinda proud of this one--especially since I snapped it fast while trying to chase Jason up another hill.

We found this tree stump that was five feet in diameter.  We counted all the ridges, and it is about 300 years old!  We can't be exact because several inches in the middle already rotted out. 

 I'm starting to see some beauty in Idaho.  This is good, considering how long I will live here.  I love the aspen (after painting them several times in my watercolor class), and I like the expanse of land between me and the mountains. 

Here is Jason sawing down our beautiful tree! (Don't worry, I apologized to it, and the money we paid for the permit will plant a new one.)  Last year, our tree took up the entire living room, so we tried to find a smaller one this time.  They all look tiny compared to some of the old folk trees up there, so it's hard to tell!

It's amazing how difficult it is to find the perfect Christmas tree.  You see all those trees in the background of the picture?  There is something "wrong" with all of them, according to Jason.  He's a perfectionist.  Trees can be dazzling in the forest and completely wrong for our home.  It took me an hour and a half of double checking several clearings (and some reverse psychology) to convince him this one was good enough.

Marcus brought Army MRE's for his lunch and let us watch him eat.  He showed us how the little heating bag works and let us sample his food.  I just tried the peanut M&M's.  They were good.

This is Eric and Jessi hauling back a tree.  My right arm is still numb from carrying ours out of the forest.  For those of you wondering if we're putting the trees up already, the answer is no.  I guess they went dormant when it got cold, so they are sort of hibernating until they get warm again.

This is me and Jason watching Marcus eat his MRE.  

This is Jessi and Shawn. They are really cute together.

I think Betsy and Justin took a nap while some of us were still looking for the right tree.  

And last, but not least, this is my adorable niece September and her dad, Justin.

It was a fun day and wonderful to be in the woods with Jason for awhile.  We will miss this tradition a lot while we're at dental school.  

P.S.  Jason and I just played Scrabble, and I scored 319!  Jason won, though, because he got 318 and I had to subtract 3 points for my leftover tiles.  :(  Still, I count it as my first unofficial victory against my Scrabble Champion husband.