christmas tree

As is our tradition, we headed to Yaeger’s Tree Farm to cut down our tree. It was the first very cold day of the season and the hay ride out to the tree field felt especially chilly, but we found the perfect one, so worth it!

Lauren and I decorated the tree when we got home. Petunia tried her best to help as well.

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As is our tradition, we headed to Yaeger’s Tree Farm to cut down our Christmas tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was slim pickings this year – which was the case everywhere I think. We did find a good one though that everyone agreed on. Dave cut it down, and we headed to a celebratory lunch afterward.

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On the Sunday after Thanksgiving we headed out to Yaeger Farms to cut down our Christmas tree, which has been our tradition for years. The weather was pretty crappy, with cold rain, so it wasn’t too crowded. But no hay rides either. We made short work of finding our tree, cutting it down, and getting it loaded up.

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The day after we got back from Virginia we headed to Yaeger’s Farm to cut down a tree. When we went last year there weren’t a lot of trees, but this year was a bit better. We found one pretty quickly and the girls both took a shot at cutting it down before Dave ended up doing it.

That evening the Sharps, Zoe and Maddie came over to help us decorate the tree.

A few days later I did a photoshoot with the girls to attempt to get a good one for our Christmas card. Here are some of the outtakes.

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The day after we got from back Charlottesville we headed to Yoders Tree Farm, where we’ve cut down our own tree for the last few years. They didn’t have any hay rides this year, but otherwise the operation ran pretty much the same. There was a little debate this year on the perfect tree, but we all finally decided on one, which ended up being the perfect height once we got it into the house.

We decorated the tree that night and now we’re all ready for Christmas!

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The day after the anniversary party we got our tree. That’s a week later than usual, but we didn’t want to have it up during the party to save a little space. The last few years we’ve gone out to a Christmas tree farm called Yaeger’s Farm in Phoenixville. They have tractor rides out to the trees and then give you a saw and you cut it down yourselves.

In this area there is apparently a shortage of tall Christmas trees, so we found the tallest one we could, which was only about 6 feet. But it ended up being perfect – and we didn’t have to smoosh the star on top.

Later in the month we enjoyed two other Christmas traditions – visiting Santa, this year in the Macy’s Santaland, and going to the Nutcracker, performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet. The girls got haircuts between the two below pictures. Sophie wanted the minimum amount cut and Lauren went for more of a bob, which she likes wearing with one side behind her ear. So stylish.

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We arrived home from Virginia Saturday night and went out to get our tree on Sunday. We waste no time getting Christmas into high gear here. We headed to the same tree farm that we went to last year, called Yaegers. It includes Santa and a hay ride.

The girls with Santa before we went to get the tree. Lauren is still wearing those dress up glasses.

Hayride selfie.

The girls agreed on a tree pretty quickly, and Dave chopped it down with a little help from Sophie.

The team with their kill.

When we got home we realized that we got a little aggressive with the height of the tree and Dave had to chop off a significant amount at the bottom and top. But after some finagling and maybe some cursing, it’s up!

That evening we decorated it.

The girls and Lina putting on ornaments.

The final product. You can see that the star has been less placed on top and more shoved in there, but it works.

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We arrived back from Virginia on Saturday and on Sunday went right into Christmas mode. This year we went to a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm in Collegeville and did just that. We pulled out all of the holiday boxes, and by Sunday night the house was fully decked. One full month of Christmas bliss 🙂

Sophie helping Dave cut down the tree

The girls and Dave with the freshly cut tree

Fully decorated. As you can see, we don’t really abide by the “don’t touch” rule for the Elf on the Shelf. He’s more of a “helper” in our house.. 
The following weekend we went to see Santa at the Northwestern Stables in Fairmount Park. To be a little more accurate, it’s Santa and his horse, Otis.

Lauren wasn’t too thrilled about the situation.

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