The small people's level of excitement is off the proverbial chart. Continuing with our desire to slow down a bit and enjoy these days together, we used the first Sunday of Advent to find the perfect tree. We loaded the van with snacks, water bottles, the people and Classic Rock's Christmas playlist and headed across the bridge to the Zuni Tree and Alpaca Farm. We started by simply running through the fields, as Irish Jig exemplifies below:
Then we tried out our yoga poses:
Then somebody got "too heavy for my feet!":
Then I played the I'm-older-and-can-tell-you-what-to-do-card. I love having a strong teenager:
I should mention that in here somewhere, Mr. Neoclassic sawed
through the trunk of our chosen tree.
Then he tethered it to the roof of the van. That's when we realized exactly how large the tree is. It's not overly tall - just about seven feet - but it's almost 10 feet in diameter. Ooops! It looked much smaller when I declared it "the ONE". We drove carefully and slowly home, hoping the tree wouldn't roll off the roof in the wind.
Then this majestic beauty was erected in just the right spot to allow for the train track to clear the base. Zydeco is our chief train engineer since he's the only one who understands how to make the transformer talk to the track. Probably because he sticks to my father's side whenever my parents are in town!
The girls, especially, check the tree each morning for newly added gifts. Most are for friends, but they are checking for their names. The boys are more surreptitious in their snooping, but I know they, too, are checking. They just don't know that I've stashed their gifts elsewhere until Christmas - hee hee.
We are also gathering in the evenings to celebrate another day closer to His birth. Classic Rock plays O Come, O Come Emmanuel for us on the piano as we spend time in quiet contemplation. I knew those years of lessons would pay off! We also gather at our Advent countdown. I hope to share that with you soon (spoiler alert).
I hope your family is also slowing down to enjoy the season, the preparations, each other, and the magic.
We decided next year we want to have a train running around the base of our tree. We have never had one, can you believe it? First I have to find a good train set....
ReplyDeleteAnd seeing your tree brought back a memory from childhood. We cut down a beautiful big tree and had it on the roof of our mini-van. We got so caught up in singing carols on the way home we forgot all about the tree until my dad tried to pull into the garage. We placed the side of the tree with all the branches chopped off against the wall. The roof of our van was quite scratched too. :)