Christmas has arrived at Phillips Farm

It just doesn't feel like the Christmas season has begun in earnest until we have our tree up and decorated.  We have a family tradition of cutting down our own tree at Corsi Tree Farm, a local family farm in Bethel, Ohio.  We had been waiting and waiting until we had a day with my stepsons to go and finally today it arrived!  So, despite the cold rain, we set out to gather our tree...

Baxter, of course, found himself a small tree someone else had cut down and abandoned.  He pulled it around for a bit, saying he was going to take it home for his room.  Meanwhile, the rest of us kept our eyes peeled for a nice Norway Spruce, round and full, for the family room.

We found a keeper and McGregor decided he wanted to try to cut it down this year so he manned the saw initially.  That didn't last too long though, before Josh took over.

With McGregor's help, Josh had the tree cut in no time at all!

Here stand the Phillips boys with our Christmas tree, cut and ready to drag to the car.  I told McGregor he looks like he thinks he's too cool for school, but he swears he was happy to be there.

Oliver wanted to drag the tree up to the car all by himself, and he did drag it for about two minutes before others joined in to make it go faster.  It's amazing the teamwork cold rain will inspire!

All three boys got inside the pull rope and made their way up the road.

Towards the end, Baxter wanted to give it a try on his own.  He declared, "I am the strongest one you have!"

Roscoe and I watched all the excitement.  There were so many happy tail-wagging dogs running around the farm today.  Roscoe was pooped by the time we got to the car.  I sat in the back with him, and he put his head on my leg and fell asleep.

Once we got home, we got the tree in the stand with some water but it needed to settle a bit so I went to do chicken chores and get dinner going.  Josh sat in his chair and promptly fell asleep. Poor guy had to work last night and tonight, but wanted so badly to be up with us doing our tree tradition.  

After dinner, we finally got the lights up and Little B got our angel in place.

And three antsy little boys, who'd been waiting all day to decorate the tree finally got to put up ornaments.

Oliver hung up the final ornament...

...and it was done!

Trains never get old for boys.  I think that's a rule.  

By the time Josh left for work, I was left with three snoring dogs and three tired boys.  That's how you know it was a good day.

And so now we can say with sincerity that Christmas time is here again.  I just love this holiday season, filled with the warmth of family, the sweet smell of something baking in the oven, the happy sound of carols drifting through the house, and the soft glow of the lights illuminating our tree as we sit together.