Honey do's

That's what a good chunk of the day consisted of but they were fun. The first thing we did was head out into Pike National Forest in search of the perfect Christmas tree. We drove around some back roads and would park every once in a while and hike. After several hours we hadn't seen anything worth cutting down yet. I ride back on these roads all the time and thought I knew where we might find some good trees so we headed in the direction. After another hour we came to the spot that, apparently, a lot of other people knew about too. Cars were parked every where. So we got out and headed into the woods and finally stumbled across this guy. We both liked him a lot and thought he would look perfect in our home. As dumb as it sounds, I actually took a minute to touch it's branches and honor it before taking the saw out of my pack.

A few minutes later and it was all over.

We saw another couple earlier in the day and the guy was walking down the road while the gal lugged this huge tree. After I cut it down I told Heather to get after it.

Of course I was only joking.

We got it all strapped down and headed home.

The tree is 8 feet tall. I've never had a real tree but this is something we will do from now on. It was a fun experience and a gorgeous day to be out in the woods. This process helps thin the forest and we'll honor the tree by sharing the holiday with it and then either use the tree to make mulch out of or burn it to help keep us warm next year.

I also fixed the starter on our grill and then hung some more accent lighting on the deck and porch so Heather doesn't have to get surprised by any more bears or other critters in the front yard when taking the dogs out late at night.