The Christmas Tree Farm

The day after Thanksgiving, we drove to the mountains to pick out the Christmas trees.  We usually get two trees for our house, one for the living room and one for the den.  We also choose a tree for my in-laws.  This year, however, we won't be putting a Christmas tree in our den because of our little Scottish/Tasmanian devil.  ;)  We're thinking by next Christmas, he'll have calmed down enough for us to have one in the den again.  He is still a puppy, after all.

Anyway, off we went to the tree farm to pick out Fraser firs for the 28th Christmas in a row, but this year, we were in for a special surprise --

snow at the Christmas tree farm!!

Mind you, it wasn't a big snow like you'd see in New England; but it was a pretty snow.  For some reason, it made me think of the movie White Christmas.  :)

You can see that the snow had already melted some.

Still, it was the first time in all these years of going to the mountains to get our tree that there was actually snow on the ground.  I wish my parents could have been there to see it.  They're the ones who told us about the tree farm the first Christmas we were married, and for years, they drove up to get their tree, as well.  They stopped going a few years ago because it was just too hard for them to get the tree unloaded and into the tree stand.  We have offered to do it for them, but they said no.  I think they miss having a real tree, but I don't think my mom misses all the cleanup involved afterwards.  I can't say I blame her for that.  :)

This year, more than ever, I'm so thankful for our parents and everything they have meant to us.

After we had the Christmas trees loaded, we drove almost exactly an hour to West Jefferson, North Carolina, to the Ashe County Cheese Shop.  

Unfortunately, they were already closed by the time we got there, but you can see the cheese shop and factory in this post I wrote a few years ago.

The drive along winding roads through the mountains to West Jefferson was so beautiful with the snow still on the mountains and in the valleys.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures because we were driving, but it was worth the extra time involved to see our beloved mountains in the snow.

I finished decorating our tree today, and it makes me happy to look at it.  :)  That's all the Christmas decorating I've done so far.  How about you -- have you finished your decorating yet?  Thanks so much for your visit and have a great week!!

Denise