Three Kids and a Dog: The Tree Farm

I know I've written before about our annual trek over to Indiana/Michigan to Dudeck's Tree Farm to cut down our Christmas tree with several good friends. It's a tradition we have kept up every year since 2001 for Tom and me. We added friends to our trip not long after and we've continued that tradition every year since then. Our kids only remember going to Dudeck's - they all have since they were born. They don't know anything different. So this year imagine Peyton's disappointment when she learned that Austen's double header soccer game conflicted with our annual tree cutting.

We were able to make some adjustments much to Peyton's delight (since she's told us that her new boyfriend is one of our friend's first grade sons so she definitely didn't want to miss our event and him!). The kids ate donuts, drank hot chocolate and delighted in playing a game of flag football while the adults caught up before hopping on the wagon to find our trees. They visited Santa - well, except for Hailey who still wouldn't go near Santa despite her constant talk about him beforehand. And, later Austen made us laugh when he spied Santa texting and announced it to all. (BTW, he still believes.) Peyton had the best reply - "I know why he is texting," she said. "He needs to tell the elves what we want for Christmas so they can get started" "That's exactly right," I said. Phew, saved by Peyton!

Sadie also joined us for her first annual tree cutting. I don't really recall Adler's first tree cutting, but I didn't have three kids to keep track of back then either so I'm sure it was easier too . What I will remember is Sadie trying to eat the seat belts in the back of our car on the way there (thankfully, we were able to tuck them away after she only dug her teeth into the plastic buckle) and how excited she was to be there. Maybe a little too excited! However, what was really special was a moment that happened just before we left. A couple came over to talk to us about Sadie. They said they also had a 4 year old Bernese Mountain Dog. I said well, this is our second one, we also had one before. They then asked if we brought her to the tree farm and we replied, yes, every year on this very weekend. "We met you then!" they said. She's the reason we got our Berner! It was because we met your dog so many years ago and vowed to get one too." Wow! What a special memory of our Adler girl. She lives on daily in so many ways.

Anyway, we picked out our tree, Hailey enjoyed the horses pulling the wagons, Peyton liked hanging out with her "boyfriend," and Austen liked directing the little kids playing football. I love this tradition even though it hasn't always been easy with little kids and puppies underfoot but the memories we all have are ones that we know our kids will have forever.