Here it comes . . .

The Christmas activities have begun. Thanksgiving being so late this year, I feel like Christmas is jumping upon us. This weekend we had a fabulous cookie exchange with the ladies at Church. I am so bummed we didn't take any pictures of Debbie's beautiful house all decorated and the huge table of trays upon trays of cookies. We had about 25 people bring 3-5 dozen cookies . . . that is about 900 cookies! Don't worry, a vast number of them were given away : )
A big surprise- I won the cookie contest! I made white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies and added dried cranberries and orange zest (a last minute impulse). I am notorious for "over-spicing" but it seemed to work to my advantage this time. I actually attribute all good flavors in baking to the Mexican vanilla we get from people that have been on Caribbean cruises! So, if you're lucky enough to be headed South, pick yourself up some.
After the cookie exchange, we took off for the Washington State forest to cut down our Christmas tree. A huge debate this year- do we go to a tree farm(like usual) or get a permit and cut it down in the "wild"? So funny. I had read my friend Gina's post about cutting down a tree and how they had to hike up a very steep hillside. Somehow I had glazed over the fact that she suggested not bringing small children next time and focused on the making sure to be prepared for mud and cold. So I had my 3 yr old and 18 month old all bundled up and in boots. We decided on the permit because it was $10 versus $35 you usually have to pay at a farm- plus this is the Evergreen State, right? We should get a tree in the forest. When we got to the area that they instructed us to cut our tree in, I saw the steep mountain side flash by and said "we can't climb up there, why did we think this was a good idea? the kids won't be able to do that!" It was so funny. Stephen looked at me and said "yah, trees grow in the mountains honey." I said "well, I thought there would be a nice flat area we could just go out a pick a tree from."(joking now) Stephen: "yes, that's what they call a tree farm." Ha ha.
Well, fortunate for us the girls had fallen asleep during our drive. We spotted a river from the road and I had seen several areas of flat ground near the river that had little trees growing up nice and round- safe from the shade of the big trees around. So we parked and Stephen took his saw and trudged off in the direction of the river. I sat in the car and watched droves of SUVs, Subarus and minivans pass our Buick with bushy trees roped to the top of their cars. Our windows got foggy as the girls slept on and I thought of all the dreadful things that could happen to Stephen out in the woods by himself (he was wearing camo pants and I was sure he would be mistakenly shot by some stupid hunter) and counted up how much everything would cost on my Trader Joes wishlist from the ad I had picked up from our mail. ( I know, save yourself from paranoia by day dreaming about expensive, cheeses for entertaining).
Just as the girls woke up, Stephen came walking back dragging our cute little Charlie Brown tree. We don't have a lot of space and find it wise to put our trees on top of the end table to help keep it out of reaching hands, so we almost always get a small one. So small, it fit inside our cavernous trunk! No prize-winning, bushy tree strapped to our roof, boo-hoo. We put the boots back on the girls and took a nice little hike through the woods back to the river where Stephen had picked our tree. It was so beautiful! Aspens, spruces, big . . . other trees. Nice river and lots of gray river rocks. It was really nice, even if I did grumble a bit at first (there were steep places too!). The ground was spongy- I have always wondered what that was like when I read about it in books. Spongy ground, hmmmm.
So, we took our tree home and Stephen got the lights on. Because of the Church Christmas Devotional last night, we haven't gotten it decorated yet. I'll post a picture of it as soon as we're done!
This week there is the Church Christmas party, more cookie making and giving, and Stephen and I are singing in the choir for the Christmas program this Sunday. We have a beautiful line-up of songs, it is so nice to participate. "Tara" you say in shock "I didn't know you were a singer?" I'm not, I am an Alto-follower. I position someone beside me or behind me that can follow the notes and I mimic them. The real goal is to not throw them off in the process. Have a happy week of Holiday fun!