Picking out our family Christmas tree is always a big deal for our family. The past several years we have had the best time actually visiting tree farms and cutting down the one of our choice ourselves. The kids really enjoy running through the many trees to find the "perfect" one. This year we decided to visit a new farm. We got information about it at the State Fair and thought it would be fun to try something new. This one boasted about their playground, train rides, Santa visits, and more. We were very excited, but quickly disappointed shortly after we arrived. The farm was fairly small in size, all the activities were provided for "an extra fee", and "to prevent law suits" they preferred to cut down the tree for us, would not bring it back to barn or tie it on our vehicle. I guess we had been pretty spoiled. Even though our past tree farm did not have a playground, it did have a friendlier atmosphere, one that we will choose to return to next year.

Poor Sam had to carry William on his shoulders, hauling our 10 foot tree back to the barn with Nate, while Brianna helped push Natalie in the umbrella stroller through tall grass and cracked earth. It was a great family effort, but a little more than we expected. It was hard for me to feel helpless watching them. I have to say that they are great kids though, and had a blast at the end riding the "horse" carousel. We even spent several extra dollars to get them ice cream. They deserved it!