New Traditions

Poor, neglected blog!  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it is already December.  Where does the time go?  We had yet another busy weekend - but at least we were in town, for once!  We did some Christmas decorating - I didn't even put out half of the stuff I usually do this year, though, partly because I didn't have the energy and partly because Miss L is into everything.  My work Holiday party was Saturday night, and then today we took Lilly to Pullen Park for the Holiday Express.  It was fantastic and I promise to blog about it later in the week - hopefully tomorrow.

Tonight I wanted to play catch up and blog about a new Baum family Christmas tradition.  Last weekend, we went to the mountains (Boone, NC) to pick out a Christmas tree!  My sister's husband, Josh, told me at one point that his family goes to the mountains every year to pick out their tree, and I thought it was a wonderful idea and just knew that we had to start doing the same with our family.  It doesn't hurt that my parents are in the process of building a house in Boone, so it will be really easy in the future (and let's face it, you never have to twist our arms to head to Boone, the greatest place on earth).  For this first trip, my parents house is still under construction, so we rented a cabin in Banner Elk and headed to the mountains on Friday afternoon for the weekend.  My parents met us there on Friday night, and my sisters (and Josh) headed up the mountain to meet us on Saturday.  I was secretly hoping for cold weather - something about it makes it feel more like Christmas.  It was decidedly not cold, but the weather was absolutely beautiful.  My parents found a little family-owned Christmas Tree Farm very close to their cabin, because we all like the idea of being able to return to the same farm every year.  We ended up at Cornett Deal Christmas Tree Farm, and y'all, it is SO CUTE and perfect.  We had the best time!  

When we got there, we told them what size trees we were looking for, and we took a hay ride to pick out the trees we wanted (Lilly loved this part the most).  The folks at the farm cut the trees down for us and took care of everything else (drilled, shaken, baled and loaded onto the car).  They also have the cutest little shop where you can buy all kinds of local crafts - and the snickerdoodle cookies were so yummy.  When we were in the craft shop, a family of four came in and they were very taken with Lilly.  The mother told me that they had started the same tradition at the very same tree farm when her oldest child was Lilly's age, and now her kids are 10 and 12.  So neat.  I took quite a few a million photos and I couldn't narrow it down as usual, so I'll finish the post out with those.  I am looking so forward to continuing this tradition and making wonderful memories for Lilly and whatever future siblings she may have.  

TOO excited to nap on the way to the mountains.

Could you die over the hat?!  I surely could.  Thanks, Grandmommy!

What is it with this child eating hay?  She acts like she's malnourished!

Shout out to Miss Brenda on the TO DIE FOR red Cole Haan shoes...LOVE.

L wasn't sure what to think of the trees

Silly Daddy!  

Carney's baby tree that L picked out for her!

L was so worn out after all of the activity that we barely strapped her into the car seat before she was asleep.  Sweet girl!

Snuggles with Paw Paw on the porch overlooking Grandfather Mountain.  Can't beat it!

I just love Christmas time...it's my favorite time of year!  Our tree turned out perfectly, it is fat and I love it.  I'll try to post a pic of the finished product at some point.  

Sarah