A Christmas Tree Hunting

We went for the first time ever to the woods and cut down our tree. In all the years past we went to the tree farm but this year we changed it up. It helps that we now live 5 minutes from the woods and access is so much easier. The hardest part was figuring out where to go to buy the permit, and then where to go for chop-chop after that.

This year I decided that we would wait until after sometime in December to go get the tree because I am really going to try to leave it up until 3 Kings Day, or Epiphany. Normally we go out the Saturday after Thanksgiving and get the tree, but by the time New Years Day rolls around, either the tree is so dry and crispy or I am dying to clean up my house from Christmas. We have never made it to January first and always seem to clean it up to ring in the new year. Waiting a few weeks this year was hard as I really wanted to be in the Christmas mood but that is so much easier to do with the ambiance of the lights and scents of the fresh tree. I had gotten the rest of our decorations out the day after Thanksgiving but it made me sad this year as they didn't really work well in our rental. In our rental there is no mantle and the sills don't work for our candles.

Then like magic 3 days before we took our fabled drive into the woods previously unexplored by our family, it started to snow like crazy. The snow was awesome but it made the drive a little more difficult then my husband liked because we had to go up this snowy road on a hill without a guard rail. He handled it like a champ though. We even took our dog, who loved it and now thinks that every time we go out without her we are walking through the Forrest and have left her home.

The trees were all super skinny and when got the one we picked out put up inside I trimmed it  and my husband laughed at me because it was so narrow. It actually really worked out well though as we didn't have a lot of room in our living area for a giant tree. Its pretty charming if you ask me.

And Autumn Came and Went and it Was Lovely...

We had so much fun. We walked almost every day and we went often to the community garden down the street. The kids loved picking plums and eating plums. We have been plugging away at school and it has been good so far. Teaching my boy how to knit has been easier than I expected and we have been loving playing the flute.

We were super buys but trying to be free. We have been working on making new friends and keeping the old. It reminds me of a verse we know and sing sometimes during morning circle, Make new friends and keep the old, for one is like silver the other gold.

We were so lucky to have Grandma and Papa come for Halloween and we had a great time. The weather held out and we found a neat section of town to go Trick-or Treating. The kids still kind of want to say "Chuck or Treat" and I let them as its still cute. We got invited to go to this big indoor Halloween festival instead of going out door to door. We went and walked inside. All I saw was a bunch of lines and felt this huge sense of dread. Oh NO I said and we turned around and went out into the night to find a neighborhood that was kid friendly. It makes me so sad that everyone is so scared to go out door to door anymore. We should not let fear rule our lives and for heavens sake, if you think your kids are going to get dangerous things in their bags from mean strangers be a PARENT and check their candy out before you let them have it. Oh, or you could try going out with them also, you know be present.

Anyway enough of a rant. In the fall we also celebrate a few other festivals that are so much fun. We celebrate Martinmas and its only a week and a half past Halloween. We decorate lanterns, try to do service, go out into the dark night for a lantern walk, and eat star shaped sugar cookies. We have done this for years as a family but this year we were lucky enough to get to meet up with friends to go on our lantern walk with. It was so much fun and I am so happy for our new budding community of like minded home school families.

Lastly we decided to have a Hobbit Thanksgiving. We didn't dress up or anything but wanted our table to look as wonderfully warm and yummy as Bilbo Baggins' table in the Hobbit when the dwarves come and eat all his food. It was so much fun to put together and made me realize that I really need to get a bigger table! Happy Fall!

Cabin Camping

We went camping in a cabin that we rented for a night. It almost didn't happen as I was sick and Hubby didn't want to go with me being sick. I decided I would rather have a good time and not feel well then feel like I missed out because I didn't feel well so I took a bunch of painkiller and packed the cooler an we took off.

It was a nice drive and it felt so good to get out and explore the country. It took about an hour from our house to get there. The directions online were not very clear and we were nervous that it would be hard to find or we would miss it as we were driving down the road. But then there it was and it was easy to see and super nice inside.

The kids loved it. We played by the river and explored the woods. The kids found a baby rattlesnake and we ate a ton of good food. We played board games all night and enjoyed hot water and a flushing toilet and a nice heater. I kept thinking while we were playing games that it was nice and shouldn't be just an activity we do when we are not at home.

No one slept well though as it was pitch black in there and the wind howled and the rain fell on the roof. Out in the woods like that the refrigerator and the clock on the wall were so loud all night long. Our youngest woke up in the night about 5 times and once it was because her big sister had disappeared and she couldn't find her in the bed they were sharing and it was so dark in their room. Turns out big sister had just fell out of the bed and was sleeping on the hardwood floor.

The weather was just perfect, cool and crisp but warm enough to want to take off a sweater when hiking. The forest was wet and dense with ferns and fungus and smelled of cedar. We loved this adventure and have plans to find the other cabins for rent in the area and check them out next summer.