Last Friday, I mentioned I would be tagging a Christmas tree with my family over the weekend. And if you follow me on Instagram, then you caught some of those adventures as they were happening.
Now I'm here to share our annual Christmas tree tagging tradition. And no, we aren't running through fields of pines, tagging them, and yelling "you're it". But kind of close.
I have to rewind a bit, and explain that this tradition has been going on as long as I can remember. Every end of October/beginning of November, my parents, sister and I would head to the Huffman's Christmas tree farm to find the perfect Fraser Fur. It involved walking through rows of pines to find the one most perfectly shaped and standing at the right height. Then, with special Christmas tree tagging ribbon, we would TAG our tree as taken, tying the ribbon to the branches of the tree. At the very beginning of December we would head back to the Huffmans' farm, saw our tagged tree down, and take it home.
When Mr. Huffman retired, we made Joe's Trees our Christmas Tree farm, and now pumpkin patch. It is where I have most of my Christmas tree tagging memories, and where I am making new married memories with husband. It's been so much fun to make this a tradition in our home, making tweaks here and there (like cutting our tree down in November so we can admire it longer).
My favorite part about tagging a tree is being able to come back for it later and cut it down yourself. There's something magical about wearing layers, drinking hot chocolate, packing into the car, and playing Christmas music loud while driving to fetch your Christmas tree. It's even better if it's snowing!
Here is that special tree-tagging ribbon I mentioned earlier. Now that I'm married, I leave the ribbon-being-tied-to-the-tree to husband. He starts at the top this makes a canopy of ribbons around our tree.
I think there is nothing better than walking through a field with your family, searching for your Christmas tree. You always have the moments of, "We found it!" only to circle the tree and find a bald spot, taking off again and rounding more trees. Now that husband and I are looking for our own tree while my parents and sister search for one, it's become an unsaid competition of who will find their tree first!
I love that variety of trees: short and fat, tall and skinny, Charlie Brown like. It makes me imagine having a house big enough for a whole handful of different trees!
The K1 lot is where we found our tree this year, and she's a beaut! I can't wait to decorate this tree with lights, garland, and ornaments! I'm way too giddy just thinking about it! And Halloween hasn't even happened yet. It's okay, because husband has been shouting from the rooftops how excited he is for Christmas this year :) Every now and then I will catch him humming a Christmas tune.
I can't imagine buying a tree at the grocery store because I'd miss this experience SO much. I'm glad this tradition has stayed around for so long, one that brought me through my childhood Christmases and is now being passed down to husband and I. I'm really looking forward to sharing this tradition with our littles one day.
I'm thankful to live in place that offers the tree-tagging experience and just happens to be in the most beautiful location. If you're local, you should definitely visit Joe's Trees to snatch up the best Christmas tree for you home!
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