Finding a Christmas Tree

We cut our own Christmas tree yesterday. This is an experience common in Oregon but one I’ve never taken part of. For you trivia buffs, Oregon supplies 60 percent of the nation’s Christmas trees. This means the state is home to many Christmas tree farms. I was amazed when I moved here and saw huge fields of Christmas trees as I drove around that first summer.

We drove less than ten miles yesterday and encountered at least five Christmas tree farms along the way. We picked one that supplied saws and twine since we forgot to bring them with us.

Getting on my knees and cutting with only one arm (other arm supporting myself in the mud) was more difficult than I anticipated. It was also tougher to carry the tree than I thought. Fortunately, the farm had a little tractor that came around periodically and carried our tree and our kids back to the parking lot.

The best part was baling the tree. The sign said, “Tree Baling $2, Kids Free.” After we baled the tree, I jokingly asked Elodie, “Do you want to be baled?” She said, “Yes” and climbed right into the baler. And then Madeleine followed. It was EXCELLENT. Unfortunately, they escaped the netting, so the confinement didn’t last long. J

And now we have the tree at home with all of the decorations below the 4’ level. I guess I need to interfere and rearrange a little.

Halloween Highlights

We had a busy Halloween week.

Monday I took the girls to the children’s museum. It was a members’ only Halloween afternoon. Kids were supposed to come in costume, but I was too lazy and decided not to mention that aspect to the girls.

It was a great afternoon to be at the museum. There were very few children, so my girls only had to fight with each other for resources. J The other bonus was that teenagers walked around the museum handing out “treats.” The kids left with stuffed bears, pencils, and other goodies.




On Wednesday, we attended a “Trunk or Treat” and chili cook off at church. (Will someone tell me—does trunk or treat exist outside of churches?) We started with the trunk or treat—meaning kids going from parked car to park car collecting treats. I have no idea why they had treats before feeding the kids, but that’s the way it was. Madeleine handed out the candy at our car while Russ and I took the other girls around. We ran out of treats pretty quickly—maybe because Madeleine was too nice to tell the kids they couldn’t come back four and five times? It actually worked out well for us because we got in line early for the chili. Before long the line was HUGE. We ate quickly and vacated our table for others.

Halloween morning I volunteered for Elodie’s Halloween party. They didn’t really need me since there were about seven other parents there, but it was fun to see Elodie and the other kids in their element. The kids put on costumes and did a little parade around the school. (They were the only grade to parade that day.) The kids then “found” pumpkins hidden outside and finished with a treat in the classroom. And after all that? There were forty minutes left of school. The other parents and I sat around while the teacher entertained the kids with stories and songs until the kids FINALLY got to leave.

The girls were so excited when Halloween night rolled around. We ate dinner and then headed out while it was still light. The girls had a very funny pattern of trick-or-treating. They only wanted to visit houses with REALLY good decorations. They didn’t care about the candy; they only cared about checking out scary monsters and fog. Oh well, it made for an easy night for the parents.

Random Pictures

Here are a few VERY random pictures for your enjoyment.

I found the masterpiece below while cleaning out the garage. I made this skull out of clay during high school. We started with a wad of newspaper and then added clay, using a real skull as a model. (Well, it was probably a plastic skull.)



My skull hit the pavement last Sunday, and so I took some final pictures and threw it in the trash. What was I going to do with a clay skull anyway?







Below: Lisa and Camille after the skull incident. I love Camille's smile.

Below: Elodie's feelings about photography. I have very few Halloween photos of Elodie because she "hates pictures." The left-hand picture is from before she saw me with the camera. The right-hand picture is her screaming after seeing the camera.