"Hey Griswold! Where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?"

For the first time ever

we went to the woods
(after M did some fishing)

stomped around in the snow

listened carefully to the echoes of rifle reports
so as to avoid getting shot by nearby hunters
heard and saw lots of other tree cutters

laughed at the dogsand picked out a tree

which M made short work of cutting down

with his new toy-slash-power-tool

then he got a little more practice

and cut down our friends' tree, too.

We hauled ours up the hill

where we wrapped it up, stuck it up on our rack,

and carted it home, where we unwrapped it

stood it up to spray it off

and were a little overwhelmed.

They weren't kidding when they said

"a tree in the woods looks a lot smaller than it will in your home".

Commence Griswold scene:

Nothing a little cutting and trimming won't fix, right?

Right!

Sort of.

I think I'm gonna need more lights. and ribbons. and bulbs. . .
which is why it's still not decorated

{note to self: insert picture of ginormous, decorated tree here}

[Title quote is from "Christmas Vacation"]