Sunday Snapshots: The Christmas Tree Expedition

Okay, this is kind of cheating for Sunday Snapshots, because I always post a lot of photos of our Christmas tree adventure. Like here. And here. But I'm gonna do it anyway. Because it's my blog, and I can.

Let's go!

Finding our Christmas tree always involves a dirt road. This year it also involved a faint track going through rangeland.

But . . . where are the trees?

You can just see, if you look closely, a truck ahead of us on the track. We were following a friend, who manages this ranch and gave us permission to cut a tree. He had to lead us to the trees, though, because not only were they nowhere near a paved road, they were about two miles down a dirt road, another mile on this track, and then a few hundred yard hike into a kind of draw where the junipers grow.

So we walked.

Words I actually said to my children, "Okay guys, watch out for cactus and cow patties and look for a good tree." Welcome to a High Plains Christmas experience.

We found a good tree fairly close to the van, actually, but decided to continue our walk to where our friend said there was a dirt tank.

And here it is.

A dirt tank is just a dug-out spot that fills with water when there's rain to create a watering hole for cattle. Obviously, we haven't had much rain lately, so it was dry, but the boys still found some snail shells in it. So that was thrilling.

Poppy was not quite so enamored of the dirt tank and preferred to hang out with me.

Or, sometimes, ON me.

She also required some assistance on the walk back.

This job I am happy to leave to A.

When we got back to the tree we had chosen, A. did his annual fatherly duty of getting his knees wet while he cut down the Christmas tree.

Cubby would have been happy to help, but by now A. and I really just wanted to get home.

After getting home, fortifying ourselves with tuna salad and hot cocoa, and changing into dry pants, A. set the tree up in its rustic bucket on the even more rustic bench, and I commenced my annual duty of stringing lights on a tree while keeping the children out of the box of ornaments.

Then they decorated the tree, and themselves.

Jack is Santa Claus, Poppy is Mrs. Claus, Charlie is an elf working in Santa's workshop, and Cubby is a mad elf because they were fighting about two seconds before I took this photo.

And there it is! The tree is up, it is decorated, and all we have to do now is wait for Christmas.