Tree Hunt 2022

This was our 13th year to go on our mighty Christmas Tree Hunt. Most things about this weekend are so much the same as the previous years that it isn't very exciting to write about them. There were a few differences this year, though. 

For starters, we were down a man! As this trip has become more and more a part of our family Christmas celebration, we have known that eventually things would start changing and not all of us would be able to come each year. This was our first year in which one of the kids had grown out of the trip. We really missed Chase. The cabin was slightly roomier without him there, and we all had to really pick up the slack on eating leftovers. It was kind of weird to not have him with us. We had to send him a photo of the remains of this poor deer that got stuck on the fence years ago - we look for it every year and every year, it's still there, in a greater state of deterioration. 

Also new, we were a little more prepared for the cabin to not be working properly. It has definitely had its troubles functioning, and the tiny little thing just isn't a huge priority for Thom, Mary's brother, who owns it. He's in the middle of a hundred projects. Luckily we did have a little heads-up that the power might not work right. Thom and Mary thought it would, but just in case, we brought a lot of light sources with us. Plus Mary had a small generator we could use for one appliance at a time. That made all the difference when we couldn't get the power going at all. Having light just kept the bleak cold at bay. Plus, with the generator, we were able to watch a movie each night. That shouldn't be as big of a deal as it is, but I can't help it. We just enjoy those Christmas movies in the evenings. Plus we had heat and just barely enough water to wash dishes (slowly) and flush the toilet as needed (not more than every half hour but hey that's better than nothing!).

Sooo Many Good Naps

One really fun change was that the kids could drive up to the cabin together. They all piled into one Tahoe, and the 3 adults enjoyed time together in the other. The kids were so excited when we told them they were adult-free for the drive up.

Another change that seems greater every year is how many other people now come to the canyon as well. We got up there early and didn't have much company. But as the minutes went by, more and more people kept showing up, and it wasn't long before Troy found himself helping get cars unstuck and we were waiting for others to move so we could leave. It's not the best. 

We got a huge kick out of our friends taking a massive tree and AnnaKay putting warning cones all over it for the drive home.

We found good trees though! And we loved spending time with our beloved Burnetts. 

 

A (maybe?) cougar print on the road

We marveled, as we do each year, at how those kids interact. They are constantly mobbing each other, either in anger or in affection, and there never seems to be a time when they aren't piled on top of one another. Sometimes they are wrestling, and sometimes they are sound asleep. We love it! But we are not like them. At all.

Wonderful year! We got home early enough in the day on Sunday that we had time to do all the Christmas decorating at once, tree and all, while Grandma came over and watched a Hallmark movie. The movie was not great, but the tree and the decorations definitely were!