Tree Farm

Last year we went to Carnation Tree Farm for our tree, which was a very nice tree that we enjoyed. We had a Grand Fir because that was the only kind of tree they had a decent selection of. I decided we'd go ahead and go there again, because it was familiar and the tree was a nice tree.

Well, we finally rolled ourselves out of bed this morning (Ryan and I were out late last night) and got everyone ready and tried (unsuccessfully) to have Malcolm nap before we left. Luckily I took another look at the farm's website before we left because it turns out their Grand Fir field isn't open at all this year and they were only selling a select few of all their others. It was really quite ridiculous. Thankfully a fellow clarinetist had told me last year which farm her family always goes to, so I called them up to make sure they were open and had trees left.

It's a bit of a drive out to Reade's Christmas Tree Ranch, about an hour, but it was worth it. This place was larger than Carnation Tree Farm, with much better selection of every kind of tree they sell. The family that owns it was very friendly and helpful. It reminded me of where we went when I was a kid much more than the Carnation farm.

Malcolm fell asleep on the way there, waking up just a we parked. He got to ride in the Ergo, which he wasn't always so thrilled about. We headed over to the Grand Firs, but couldn't help but be drawn to the Noble Firs, despite the fact that they're more expensive. The Nobles look like their branches are sturdier than the Grand Firs and the Grand Firs often have really long needles - we'd just managed to find one last year that didn't have crazy long needles. In the end we went with the Noble since that's what we all seemed to like. As the kids get older I think I'd like to look at more of the varieties though, just to see if there's anything else we might like as well that we're just not familiar with right now. But at the moment the kids, especially Malcolm, just don't have the patience for that.

It's been unusually cold here (below freezing for a whole week now, which almost never happens here), so we're letting our tree hang out in some water in the garage overnight so it doesn't die of shock when it comes into our warm house. Pictures will come tomorrow after we get it set up (hopefully that happens tomorrow). I'm a little worried about Malcolm trying to pull the tree over, but he did get annoyed by the needles scratching him while I helped Ryan carry the tree, so here's hoping that was enough to make him decide to stay far, far away from the tree this year.