Saturday was the day we picked to go shopping for our first real family Christmas tree. And boy did we pick the perfect day! Not only were we Christmas tree shopping, but I wanted to get some pictures of the family for our Christmas card, and I got some really cute ones! It was such a beautiful , sunny and warm day. We walked all over the farm until we thought we had found the perfect tree. I had a blue spruce in mind, but we ended up with an 8 1/2 foot white pine tree. And, it was a beauty! It just spoke to us and said ”pick me, pick Me!”
My dad went with us because he has a truck, and I was afraid it would scratch the top of my car. I think he enjoyed it as much as we did. We brought the tree home, and boy was it a challenge! We had bought a tree stand a while back at the mission for $5. Well, we found out why it was there! The tree almost fell over 3-4 times, and every time that happened, the ornaments fell off. Turns out, it was missing some of the bolts to keep it tightly in the stand. At one point I was standing there just holding it up while my dad and my husband were in the garage searching for something to use. Finally my dad ran home and got something and brought it back to us. I also brought home some various pine branches to try to use for decorating. They let us have those for free.
If you have never been to Mt. Zion Nursery, you should go! It was beautiful. Lots of trees to choose from, and the people were very nice and helpful. I believe the cut trees were $7 per foot. They were serving coffee, hot chocolate and cookies. And they had a little ornament making station for kids to make ornaments. Gavin made one that was a slice of a tree trunk. So cute!
In the end we got the tree to stand up, and boy does it take a lot of watering. The only thing I would warn about a white pine is that the needles are long and we did have a difficult time getting the ornaments to stay on, especially my heavy Lenox ones. Therefore we didn’t put quite as many ornaments on the tree. And the next day, the tree kind of has little gaps in it that weren’t there when we bought it. This is because the ornaments are weighing it down. But it is still beautiful, and maybe all real trees have flimsy limbs. I am just used to a fake tree I think. Here are some pictures of our day at Mt. Zion and our tree after we got it all decorated.
Warning- I finally made the attempt to learn how to make a bow. I told you last week I didn’t have the slightest idea. But I had bought some red ribbon because I wanted to put a bow on top of the tree. I found a video on you tube that I used to help me make my bow. It is very far from perfect, trust me! But I did my best for the first bow I have ever attempted. And I am OK with how it turned out. It is a little whimsy and imperfect, but I think it looks cute!
There are olive green, blue, pink, purple, and red ornaments, along with my cream colored Lennox ornaments I have been collecting for years, and a few candy canes. There are also a few angels here and there that my mom always gives us every year. We have another smaller tree in the family room too. My husband moans and groans about having two trees, but I like them both! I’ll show you the other one in another post.
I also linked to this party!
What a wonderful family activity and such a beautiful tree!