The Guimond Family Tree

Last weekend we bundled up the kids and headed out into the Maine forest (okay local tree farm) in search of the perfect tree for this year's holiday. For the past several years we have been perfectly satisfied with our non-needle shedding artificial pine accompanied by a good pine scented candle for effect. This year, what with Maxie being old enough to start to appreciate the the tradition and ceremony of it all, we decided that we should go out and cut our tree like the true Mainers that we are. All in all it was a nice outing at Mason's tree farm. The kids really seemed to enjoy it even though they really didn't fully understand what we were doing. I think the highlight of the event for Maddox was the machine that they put the tree on to shake off the excess needles and the bundling machine thatwraps the tree in the netting.My intent with my picture taking on this day was to follow up with a picture of the tree nicely decorated, standing in our living room all fragrant and beautiful. Well, in the week since putting it up the dog has knocked it over once. (We think it was the dog......may have been Mimi.) It has shed more needles than I ever thought it had to start with, and Mimi and Emmy (boxer) are having a daily competition to see which one of them can undecorate it in the quickest and most creative way. Mia's method seems to consist of grabbing one end of the bead garland and pulling. This usually gets her the garland and whatever ornaments it manages to snag along the way. Emmy on the other hand seems to prefer the "grab the end of a branch and shake" method! This works kind of like the harvesting cherries from the trees only instead of cherries she gets rewarded with needles and ornaments. I have given up putting whatever comes off back on at this point. We currently have about 4 feet of bare tree at the bottom. I'm learning to choose my battles............. I will re-beautify it on Christmas Eve after the kids .......ummm I mean dog have been crated, and the kids are in bed. Maybe then if it has any needles left on it I will take my picture to post!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!