The Felten Notebook: Finding the perfect Christmas Tree

Thanksgiving was late this year and I was grateful for it. As a result, however, there is less time between holidays making no room for putting off Christmas traditions and decorations until later. As soon as Thanksgiving and Black Friday were over, we hit the ground running!

First stop - Boyd Christmas Tree Farm to pick our perfect tree. It's not christmas in the mountains unless you cut down your own Christmas tree! We started this tradition in 2009, which ended in Ryan surprising me with an engagement ring and we've been back every year since then! We found out that Jeremiah (Ryan's son) and his family were also wanting to pick up their tree from the same farm, so we decided to go together.

The farm is about 40 minutes from Asheville between Waynesville and Maggie Valley, NC and is set against the most beautiful back drop. The trees grow on the mountain that surrounds the valley and you can see all of them growing neatly in perfect rows all around. It always takes my breath away! Even Santa and Mrs. Claus can't stay away.

In past years, not sure how it happened, but we've always missed the crowds. This year, though, I guess everyone wanted to get a jump on Christmas just like us. We had never seen the farm so busy! We actually had to park far away and walk into the farm.

You felt the Christmas spirit quickly. They had decorations everywhere!

I like it to be cold when picking out our tree, but not freezing to where it is unbearable to be outside. Luckily weather was on our side! It was nippy but the sun was out to provide some warmth.

We didn't waste anytime and up the mountain we hiked to find our perfect tree!

On the way up, we pass by a few adorable log cabins. One day we will have stay here!

It's a lot harder than you think to find the perfect tree especially when expectations are so high. You want one, then the other, no wait, that one over there. Decisions, decisions!

If it was left up to Keira, we'd go home with just this Charlie Brown branch!

Jeremiah and his mom, stepdad & sisters were the first to find their tree. They just needed to yell, "We found our perfect Christmas Tree!" It was the cue for the grounds crew to cut it down and transport it back to the tent to be bound.

It took us a little longer. I wanted it to truly be perfect! Ever year, we inevitably we pick out a tree that is TOO big. A tree on the side of the mountain looks a lot smaller than when the tree is sitting in our living room! We've had to trim the top of our tree on more than one occasion! We've finally learned that if a tree looks small in its natural setting, it was probably perfect for us! We've also learned that since the trees at Boyd grow on the side a mountain one side is always lopsided, so we tried to find one on the flattest slope as possible. After running up and down the mountain side, we finally found it!

We yelled, "We found our perfect Christmas tree!"

Uh, we said again, "We found our perfect Christmas tree!"

"Excuse me, we found our..." Oh, forget it! They were so busy, they didn't hear us. Everyone was yelling that they found their perfect tree. Eventually, Ryan and Jeremiah physically found a couple guys who were happy to help us and happy to take a quick picture in the process.

Sophia is Jeremiah's step-sister who was in town visiting from Raleigh for Thanksgiving. We joke all the time that she looks more like my daughter than Sabrina's, so she fit right into our picture! It does make for interesting eyebrows when we go out together. It's funny to watch people try to figure us out! We are just one big family and we were very happy to share in this tradition together.

These boys cut our tree and we head back to the tent to wait as it gets prepped to go home. We warm up a little with hot chocolate, apple cider and cookies, which Keira very much enjoyed. I have to admit, we were hit with a little bit of sticker shock when we paid for our tree this year, but the refreshments and time with Santa were free, so I suppose it's about the entire experience! More reason to get your tree early, so that you have more time to enjoy it.