The Christmas Tree Farm

Every year, we buy our Christmas tree at the Home Depot. Cheap, yes, but totally boring. This year, with our now 6 year and 3 year old children, we decided it was time for a new adventure: chopping down our own tree.

We drove an hour to a tree farm in Sebastapol. We wore flannel shirts and boots. Correction: Matthew and I wore flannel shirts and I wore boots.

 There were old school swing sets (metal and rickety and therefore seriously dangerous.)

There was a zip line, a hay ride, a train, and a barn full of baked goods and ornaments for sale. Even Santa showed up and gave his word that the elves were busy making Isabella's plush Elsa doll. And there were trees. Lots of sad, short, sparse trees, that were WAY out of our price range. We had fun, oh yes we did, running and playing and riding on a trailer pulled by a stinky John Deere. But then we packed up, drove an hour back to Napa, and on the way home, stopped at the Home Depot and picked up a beautiful, bushy green Douglas Fir, for $44.  Boring and budgets are sometimes the way to go.