Oy Christmas Tree

Michael's sister Kristal invited us to go up tree hunting with her and her husband. They talked about how much they love going out and tramping around the mountains looking for the perfect tree and best of all it only costs $10 for a tree permit. We debated it and finally decided the kids would enjoy it and it would save us a fair amount of money.

Saturday morning we got everyone dressed in multiple layers and headed up above Idaho City. We managed to make it up there with very little excitement. Just the constant refrain from the backseat, "When are we going to get there?" They were eventually forbidden from asking.

We went up an icy forest service road and unloaded everyone. The dog was in heaven and my girls and I were freezing. I put Grace in a makeshift sling since I left the real one at home, we grabbed the kids and started looking. We hiked up and skidded down the sides of the mountain, all in the search of the perfect tree. Let me tell you there is no such thing. After about 1/2 hour Grace had enough and Libby quickly followed. I sat in the car with crying girls while Michael continued his quest with Ethan in tow. Eventually Michael started heading back to the car, but without a tree. We had hiked everywhere and he still didn't find a tree he liked. Kristal pointed out one that was 20 yards from the car. I pointed at it and asked nicely (or commanded from his point of view) that he just cut that tree down so we could go home. Michael obliged and we started home.

Seeing as we were all cold and hungry we stopped at a restaurant in Idaho City where I worked forever ago. We had a nice, but not as cheap as I remember, lunch. We came home and Michael set up the tree. It looked a lot better in the forest. Between lunch, a permit and gas I figure we spent about twice as much on half the tree we could have picked up in town.




The tree in all of its glory.