decking the Halls...or the Buick?

So I grew up with the tradition of going out into the snowy woods the day after Thanksgiving to cut down a Christmas tree...lots of good memories...I married a man who doesn't like the snow (yes, he's weird!), and we have never owned a vehicle that would work to go into the snow cut down a Christmas tree and haul said Christmas tree back home with anyways.

And then year two of marriage and our daughter, Madison, was born on Dec 2nd...so rather than decking the halls for Christmas, I now find myself party planning the weekend after Thanksgiving, and we try to save all Christmas related activities to post-birthday (more to protect my sanity than anything!).

When Madison was about 2 or 3 (can't really remember), we decided to make getting the Christmas tree a huge family tradition...aka huge production...and we went to our one and only local Christmas tree farm (name withheld to protect any reputation they may have)...we spent hours walking down their rows of bushes and dead Christmas trees spray painted green (not joking, they spray painted the dead trees green, like we wouldn't see the circle of green paint on the ground!?!)...and then we ended up at Target...and within minutes found the perfect tree for the perfect price and drove home! So from that year forward the Chambers family tradition has been to bundle up, drive to Target, pick out a tree, shove it in the trunk and drive home...

This year, well our lovely 2003 Buick La Saber (yes, I'm 32 and drive a car that 70 year olds covet! That's a blog for another day!) has a broken trunk (another blog!)...that's okay we'll strap the tree to the roof my overzealous self says to myself... My Beau is feeling sick on the day that we promised the kids we'll go get our tree, so off to Target I take the bundled up kids. And in the back of my mind I'm thinking for some reason that the garden guy at Target will supply me with a blanket (to protect my Buick's roof) and rope to tie it down...

We get to Target and they have a total of 2, yes 2 trees, in my style (noble fir), height (5-6 ft) and price (under $35)...wow every year we've had at least a dozen to choose from. So we pick our favorite out of the huge selection, the nice Target garden guy trims the end off, wraps it up in netting and totes it to the car for us...this is when I mention that I needed him to help me get it on top...oh, well apparently they aren't allowed to help with that (something crazy to do with liability!), so he suggest we stick it inside the Buick...so with his help (guess there's no liability for damaging the inside of the Buick, just the outside!), we shove a 6 ft Christmas tree into the passenger side of the car...

The kids LOVED riding next to the Christmas tree and the memory is a fun one...thanks Target Garden Guy!