It's Always Better When We're Together: Christmas Tree Pickin'

This is a serious topic for me. Growing up we always had a fake, um I mean artificial, Christmas tree. Nothing wrong with that and I didn't know any better, but since moving out on my own I have had a real Christmas tree every year. Just the smell alone is worth paying for a tree every year.

My Christmas trees in Florida were purchased at Home Depot. Even my first few trees in Atlanta were too, but for the last five years we have been buying our trees at Berry Patch Farm. I absolutely adore that place. It's a family run farm in Woodstock. They have trees you can actually cut down yourself. How cool is that? We like the Fraser Firs best and those aren't grown there so we don't get to cut it ourselves. However, they do have them all set up looking pretty out in the farm. You take a little hay ride out to where the trees are and walk through them until you find the perfect tree. I always go for the sad looking Charlie Brown tree because I feel sorry for it thinking that nobody will buy it. Yes, it's just a tree and yes, I'm weird like that. John generally wins out and we buy a nicer tree, but it usually still has some type of flaw. The flaw can always go against the wall!! Anyway, we have been going to Berry Patch for 5 years. It's a Goodballet tradition now. We get our tree, buy a wreath, wander through the trees, take pictures, and drink hot chocolate. Last year the kids were old enough to play on the little swing set they have. It's just very quaint like I always imagined a Christmas tradition to be. But this year, because we moved, we had to find a new tree farm.

I did my research. Don't get me wrong, I checked around. I found two tree farms near our house. After pouting from Thanksgiving until that Sunday I gave in and agreed to skip Berry Patch this year since it is an hour drive now. John vetoed the first tree farm pick and said it was too far. So we packed everyone up and headed to Cooper's. Oh Coopers. Such a disappointment. To their credit, they were an amazingly nice family. I really did like the people working there. They had a nice selection of trees and I do believe we got the nicest tree this year that we have ever had. And, as a bonus, it was less than smaller trees in previous years. But where was the hayride? The hot chocolate? What about the sleigh for us to take pictures in? Or the farm to walk around? **sigh** Oh Berry Patch how I miss you so!!

Here are pictures from our "new" tree farm. I feel bad talking about Cooper's this way, but once you've been to Berry Patch you'd feel the same. John says we are going back to Berry Patch next year. I won't argue!