Dec 6th--Christmas tree cutting day

I think it's only fair that I tell the story, and I mean the WHOLE story, of the Christmas tree cutting.

Cory has always fancied the act of driving up into the forest to cut a Christmas tree. Every year since I first moved in with him in Denver in 2005, we have re-enacted this tradition (or some version of it). In the beginning, we would go Christmas tree hunting near Granby, and once we moved to Fort Collins we went up to a place near Red Feather Lakes. In all of our times, Cory has been a rep of the fam. One year, I pumped milk in the car during our outing. One year, Lacey went up with Cory because I hung back with infant Ruby & 2-year-old Scout. Scout & Ruby have tagged along on all of our outings since 2010.

Now, back during the outing of 2013, we had a bit of a challenge. As with anything, you're bound to have an off year. Well, kids were freezing (actually, Ruby was basically losing her mind with cold), and I was fairly convinced that this tradition could be easily replaced by a pre-lit number from Costco, but 2014 was a redeeming year.

A friend of mine, Polly, approached me the day before to see if she could caravan up with us, so this year we had company as well. (Which, truth be told, was a bit of a conundrum, since they arrived 30 minutes after our agreed-upon time and didn't have much in the form of winter boots--Ooops!) But, this year, the girls were dressed warmly, and the stubborn 4-year-old had miraculously been replaced by a 5-year-old with a bit of stamina. We had snacks, we had fun, we remembered the camera, but we did forget the small pot to cook the hot chocolate in! It helped that in all the hubbub of 2013, Cory felt convinced that he had found the perfect lot from which to begin our journey, and I was optimistic. Optimal tree proximity was bound to save us all from traipsing around for hours on end.

And we did it. And you can even see SMILES throughout the photos. Not like last year when I took 5 photos before we started the process, and then just stopped clicking (because, seriously, nobody wants to see tears and snot photos).  And even though there were tears this year, it helped that they came from children that I was not biologically related to! You know, those frozen toes are someone else's problem!

The Christmas Tree Cutting tradition lives on!

Sundance--Thanksgiving 2014

When Cory and I first got married, we thought that we would alternate holidays. Yeah, that didn't last very long. Due to one thing or another (Ruby being born around Thanksgiving was an initial trigger back in 2009), we have switched things up. I've discovered that it is VERY nice to wake up in your own home on Christmas. I still LOVE getting together with family, though. This year, we spent Thanksgiving at Alan & Margie's house. Lacey was there too for most of the time, and Great-Grandma Marlene came in from her place for a few nights also. Great to see everyone.

When we first arrived, Grandma & Papa had a few things for the girl who turned 5 a week earlier. She got a fun Frozen dollhouse.

Trying on Aunt Lacey's boots

Decorating the tree & riding on Aunt Lacey

Margie always makes quite the spread for Thanksgiving. I did try to help a little bit, but there's not much to help with when Margie is so organized. Margie's sister Dana and her husband Bruce came to dinner, as did Dana's son (and Cory & Lacey's cousin) Michael. It was very nice to see everyone!

The carving master & his masterpiece

Making Gingerbread houses

Making a HUGE snowman

Watching Christmas vacation

A few photos taken by one of the girls:

Since there was plenty of snow in Sundance, it was only fitting that the girls made the best use of their surroundings. One of the days was extremely cold and the girls STILL wanted to go! Apparently, Scout was a full-blown daredevil and she loved every minute of it. This made Cory just a wee bit nervous!

 A video for your viewing pleasure!

Our return to Fort Collins went well, we stopped in Lusk at a Subway restaurant and not surprisingly, our kids ate NOTHING. So much for road-food for these gals!