Tree Time

Once again it was time for our yearly drive out to the Red Feather Lakes National Forest above Fort Collins where we chop down our Christmas tree each year. It's a good 2 hour drive, but luckily, our kids are good travelers. Turn on Christmas music, give them notebooks and drawing/coloring supplies, make sure they have snacks and water, and we're good to go.

Since we went on a weekday this year (there was a lot of snow and really cold temps on Saturday), we had to stop by the forest service station in Fort Collins for our $10 permit on our way up. Turns out we weren't the only ones who waited for better weather. I think we saw a good 20 or so other cars in the cutting areas.

Anyway, once we were there, the kids threw themselves into the snow. Literally. Then we hiked up a large hill to the back of a clump where we started looking around for our tree. I got tired very quickly, but the kids had a lot of fun. The snow was a couple feet deep.

Eventually, Seth found a tree that we decided was a keeper. It was noting too impressive, but trekking through that deep snow was tiring for all of us, and we wanted to end the search sooner then later, before the kids got too whiney and cranky.

Then, we headed back to the car. The hike down was a lot easier, and since we brought a sled, the kids got to take turns sliding down through the trench like tracks all the way to the parking area. Time to tie the tree down, load up the car, refill water bottles, and feed the masses.

The kids were a little bored on the way back, but cheeseburgers and fries along with more lively Christmas music helped to keep them from going nuts. The whole trip took us about 5 1/2 hours. Not bad, really.

Then we set the tree up. It is huge! The thing takes up a good large chunk of our living room this year, but it looks better then we thought. Hooray for us!