O Tannenbaum


oh how i love the holiday season! i have lots more november posts i want to work on but for now i can't resist jumping straight into the christmas merrymaking!

on a bright afternoon last week just before the rainstorms came, we headed out to find this year's christmas tree.
we went back to the organic farm from last year, when this little toot was about as big as a blueberry inside me.

to our dismay there was a sign up that read "closed for the 2012 season"and a for sale sign for the property (anyone? christmas tree farm and massive organic vegetable garden? 3 parcels of 3 acres each? sound good?)
luckily, darin knows the owner nancy, who just happened to be walking by. he jumped out to say hello and she let us go pick out a tree.  he asked how much and she said, "Aw, have a tree! Merry Christmas!"  hooray for a free organic tree!


lucy sported a little santa hat that addie and i wore when we were babies. pretty cute, eh?

facing a forest of lovely evergreen trees that have gone just a little bit ragamuffin, knowing you get to choose one and take it home to lovingly decorate and live with for a while, is such a treat. it's a little bit sad too and ideally we'd have a potted live tree, but cutting our own down is such an endearing tradition!



there were many beauties so it didn't take long. 
we love our full shaggy guy.

the boys:

and us girls:

oh how she loves to pretend she drinks coffee. she likes to be one of the gang.

the boys took turns carrying the tree back through the forest.




santa's acres is now defunct, kinda sad and charming in its own way. we dreamed of sprucing it up and making it cozy again, buying the land and running the place, serving up hot cocoa and candycanes while the boys cut down and carried trees for cityfolk. oh man, i am a daydreamer extraordinaire.





i love getting a christmas tree because it is a little spot of bright wild nature brought inside the house to remind us of fecundity and the earth's bounty in the heart of winter. i love the smell of pine and the way the needles fall and having to give it water and the way my cats bat at the bottom boughs. and watching my baby discover all this makes it even better.

happy december to you all! i'll show you the ornamented version in another post.

Comments

kerttu said…
tree is lovely, allmost too perfect to my taste. we dont have to go to christmas tree farm, we simply just go to forest and cut the wild tree. Like most people in finland. (Ofcourse u have to own some land to do this)
Happy december:-)
December 4, 2012 at 5:31 AM
Sheree said…
took to the hill here at home and found a little forlorned, charlie brown crooked tree..it'll suit just fine. Can't wait to see the pictures of that sweetness seeing her first lit up tree :)

always a joy to wake up and see you have posted more pictures of Miss Lucy's sweet smile, she is sooo darn cute!!!(and getting so big oh my) Morning brew and a smiling baby anyday. xoxo
December 4, 2012 at 6:02 AM
Amy Beatty said…
Gorgeous one and ALL!! you are just beautiful. Lucy one pic with Joe and her other with her daddy are soo stinking cute. I love your tree. the kids are dying to get one but I don't think we will since we are not even spending xmas at home. I do LOVE the way they smell. And we love to pick a cutie pie that no one else likes. But I totally worry about it drying out and starting a fire and leaving link home alone with it. Lucy in her little Christmas hat is the BEST!xoxo
December 4, 2012 at 8:04 AM
Hoodoo Voodoo said…
For some reason, these pictures of Lu are killing me the very most right now! Maybe because I just know how calm and bright eyed and happy she was that whole time. That first picture had me saying "Whoooaaa...she is BEAUTIFUL." I mean, I always have known it, but she takes my breath away in these. She is so kind and patient and cheerful and happy to be ALIVE and a part of it all.
December 4, 2012 at 9:23 AM
Anonymous said…
Hello, I just have to say Oh my God your kid is cute! :)
December 4, 2012 at 9:24 AM
polly compost said…
what a doll doll doll...


and what a striking, gorgeous family!!

that daddy man darin is looking extra fly and suave in his coming salt n peppa days.

i day dream of christmas tree farms too. is that stephanie's former place?


lucy gnawing on emily's cup is the BEST! i love those things that babies do.
December 4, 2012 at 10:17 AM
Missa said…
Oh my gosh, that farm would be perfect for you guys! Salsa and sunflowers in the summer and Christmas trees in the winter! I can just see you and Darin dressed as old-timey Santa and Mrs Klaus with Lucy in her wee elf suit ;)

What a special tree for Lucy's first Christmas, embodying wild nature as well as the spirit of giving, perfect :)
December 5, 2012 at 9:28 AM
Nicky said…
I love this whole thing... I've been MIA from internet world for a while, and this was such a treat to come back to. That lil Lucy is killing me, she's SO cute. Wish I could meet your sweet lil gal.

Such men! Carrying trees through the forrest- hehe I love it. I too LOVE having a tree in the house, the fresh pine smell and the lights of course. You candy cane Christmas tree stand sounds fabulous, you just let me know when you open it... I'll be there! I'm a hopelessly optimistic daydreamer too, but it doesn't usually let me down- dreamers make things happen!!! :D XO lady!
December 5, 2012 at 10:13 AM
lena said…
I work on a farm, and live and help out on another farm where my sweetheart is the manager, and I daydream of working in a bookstore! Or during the season pretty much anything other than farming. And now we are selling Christmas trees! Isn't daydreaming funny?

Lucy grows more and more beautiful, and her momma with her!
December 6, 2012 at 1:46 AM
Janet said…
such a great adventure you all had, finding the perfect tree for your home.... great story, great pictures... :) just wonderful :)
December 6, 2012 at 10:41 PM
Tera said…
My how Lucy brings joy, just the sight of her on here, sqeeeeeeeeeeel! I do love Christmas tree farms and would love to find one just to sniff trees and have caramel corn or hot cider. Happy ho-ho-ho's!
December 8, 2012 at 7:49 AM
Teeny said…
You're this picture perfect image of happiness you and your fams. All of you. Makes me think you should be adding more to your brood. It's hard to imagine that it ever gets cold there, I think Placerville was one of the hotter places we visited - that and Sacramento. That photo of Darin with lucy in front of the orange six sided structures....Lucy looks just like you! If it wasn't for my allergies, I'd have a real tree. enjoy the season merry one. x
December 8, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Anonymous said…
aw, lucy is getting to that "portable baby" size that i just love. from now through 1 1/2, babies are like pocket pets. easy to fit on your hips, they can hold up their head, but can't walk yet so they just pretend your legs are theirs. it's the best.

and yay for serendipity! how fortunate that you were there at just the right time, and how sweetly generous of the owner to give you a tree! talk about the magic of christmas! also, that bright yellow tree with the pine in back...stunning. and also #2, i daydream like that too...i love building castles in the air!

i am super swamped with life right now and haven't been able to comment much, but i'm here mama! reading along and sending you love! xoxo
December 10, 2012 at 8:16 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesdays in my Town - Buck's Bar on the Cosumnes River

Image
Okay, not to turn this into "my favorite river spots" or anything...but it just hit 100 degrees here and i had the pleasure on saturday of going with some of my favorite people to one of our...yes indeed i can't resist.... favorite river spots .  since i talk about the river a lot, all summer long, i figured i'd go ahead and show you all this particular spot for this week's "Tuesdays in my Town." so, my town placerville (aka p-ville, peevs, and infamously "old hangtown") is actually located between two beautiful rivers coming out of the sierra nevada mountains: the american river to our north and the cosumnes river to our south. my friends and i have spots we prefer on both rivers, depending on the day, the kind of hike you want to do, and the month of the year. on saturday we drove out toward somerset down buck's bar road to the bridge and hiked out to the perfect june swimming hole in the cosumnes river, which, by the way, i r...
Read more

"I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin..."

Image
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belong to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. It struck me, when I read Song of Myself several years ago, that thirty-seven years old , that magical Whitmanesque age, was still in the future for me. How exciting that felt! To know that this wonderful age that was such a pure and boisterous beginning for the bard, was something I could look forward to. To know that I could set forth on new adventures, and sing the praises of the earth, and be wild and merry and voluptuous and bold. Now and forever. and especially at 37. And so suddenly I am here! That lu...
Read more

handmade homes take to the open road

Image
i want this to be us so bad...rollin away in a fairytale bus made of wood and wheels, porch and books. this is from another book in the series of rad 70s handmade house books that i've written about before and missa wrote about here  ( raddest houseboats ever, ever, ever ) this one is all about handmade hippie houses on the road. we have it at the bookery in the locked case; it's a collectible and thus way out of my price range. but i still get to look at its gloriousness. these photos of the pages look much better than mine, found in this wonderful little delight here , check these caravans out: standing in the mist with its little terra cotta pots and windowpanes, killing this fairytale heart a mine. i can picture joey and emily in this one, our neighbors. and this one can house addie and art, and we'll drive cross the prairies together. this covered-wagon one seems the most fun of all. roll back the canvas and sleep ...
Read more