Christmas Tree Selection Process--2007

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Step #1: One week BEFORE Thanksgiving, load up the car and head east. Cross the twin spans, drive through Slidell and end in Pearl River, Louisiana at above location. (Louisiana apparently has its fair share of exotic dancers, but lucky for our family, it also has exotic Christmas trees!)
Step #2: Head out amongst the rows and rows of trees.
Step #3: Find a big stick. Not just any old big stick, but a big stick that is as big as you are.
Step #4: Drag this big stick with you as you walk down row after row of trees. It is said that the big stick will help you in finding the perfect Christmas tree.
Step #5: Look, study, and look some more in an attempt to find that perfect tree.
Step #6: Take a break from studying all those trees and RUN up and down the rows.
Step #7: Find the tree fit for a 3-year old and give it a good ol' thumbs up.
Step #8: Consult with the man in charge as to why you should definitely be able to take the tree above home with you. Because it's a really, really, really nice tree, Dad!
Step #9: Tell the ants to buzz off and leave you alone and quit crawling up your pant legs and biting you!

Step #10: Delight in Daddy's pick of the tree for the year (after realizing that you're not going to get to take home your own pick of the year). Step #11: Tag it!
Step #12: Leave the beautiful 9 foot Leyland Cypress tree behind until the first week of December when the retrieval process shall take place.

And always remember to:On the Saturday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 17), we picked out our Christmas tree for the second year in a row. We went last year and absolutely loved having a real tree and loved having one of THESE trees! They are beautiful. They are so full and so green and they stay so fresh all through the holidays. In fact, I think it was mid January before we took ours down last year and it hadn't shed any needles or anything. So, we went again this year and pre-marked ours to ensure that we would indeed find the perfect tree. And I think we found it. And it is always a different tree hunting experience as there is no need for hats, scarves, coats, or even jackets for that matter. I had Tyler in jeans and a long sleeved shirt and he was way over dressed. I always get after Garrett for wearing shorts everywhere he goes (outside of work), but he generally is much better off than the rest of us as we roast to death. And Sam only wore a stocking cap simply so his poor little head wouldn't get sunburned. It was let him roast with a hat on or let him get sunburned. So he had to roast for a few...
Stay tuned next week for pictures of the Tree Retrieval Process. We are going to chop it down this Saturday!