Christmas tree shopping

Andy and I went Christmas tree shopping last weekend.  Usually we head out to Honeypot Hill Orchard in Stow where you get to choose a tree as Christmas music is piped in while sipping free hot apple cider, followed by roasting marshmallows over an open fire and a visit to goats, pigs, chickens and bunnies.  This year we had so much Sprout-preparing to do that we decided to just go to Allandale Farm down the road instead of making the hour drive each way to Stow.  Allandale is a very nice farm, coined "the oldest working farm in Boston" (although technically I think it's now in Brookline) and to be fair, they did have an open fire and a pair of oxen, but no marshmallows, free cider or music.  Alas... 

We went to Allandale one other year for our tree and for some reason decided to buy a white pine that reminded us of "Cousin It."  That will go down as the worst tree we have or will ever bring into our home.  It didn't smell like a Christmas tree, the wispy needles didn't hold ornaments... It just sucked.  The only redeeming value was that it very light- Andy was a fan of that feature :).  This year we steered away from the pines (and felt badly for the families that looked at them and thought "this could be a fun new type of tree!") and after much perusing, got a good old-fashioned balsam fir.  We haven't yet taken our annual F-S family Christmas tree photo (I'll post it when we do) but here are a few of us shopping:

The last shot shows Andy holding our tree.  We knew it was a good one because when he picked it up, a woman walked by and said "what a beautiful tree!" and I subsequently saw multiple families eying our tree to see if we would leave it behind so they could scoop it up.  No such luck suckers! :)  It's funny how Christmas tree shopping can make me feel so competitive...  The tree is now up and decorated in our living room and looks beautiful, unlike our dearly departed Cousin It tree. May you all learn a lesson today- white pines are interesting to look at, but you're in for a world of disappointment if you try to make one your Christmas tree.

In other news, I'm 35 weeks pregnant today and still doing well!  Sleep (or lack thereof) is probably my biggest problem currently, but what can you do.  Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!