We love the Christmas season and every year on the day after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree.

For various reasons (economical, cultural, upbringing), that tree was actually a plasticized replica of a tree purchased on sale after Christmas at Sears a number of years ago.

So “put up” = unbox, sort, assemble and decorate.  This is all we have known, and all our children have ever known (sad, we know).

This year, however, just as we were about to start the annual process of getting out the “tree” from the garage.  But just then, Evers remembered that in the process of disassembling the tree last year, the base had broken!  And no spare parts were then available from the manufacturer.   What to do?  What a let down!  Instead of mourning our loss, we decided to do something different.  How about getting a real tree?  But definitely not from Home Depot or Lowe’s parking lot.  How about we cut one down and haul it home (something we’d read about in books but never had actually seen someone do in person)?

Adventurous and spontaneous family that we are, we headed out within the hour to start a new Christmas tradition!

We drove up into the mountains to a tree farm, and it was a beautiful sunny day for it.  We passed by several Christmas tree farms as we drove up and up the mountain.  We saw many cars coming down with Christmas trees on their rooftops.  What a new experience for us to behold.  We had never done this before.  I felt like I had missed some sort of memo about getting a Christmas tree from a real tree farm versus a parking lot with pre-cut trees (let alone Sears’ clearance aisle after Christmas).  We finally made it up to the tree farm of our choice, which was the highest point you could go up.  How exciting it was for us to see a huge crowd there, just hanging out.  Some were even BBQ’ing and having a picnic.  Oh boy, I felt I had missed out all my life!  After we got some free hot cocoa and apple cider the farm provided, off we went to search for the perfect tree.

We had so much fun looking for the one, and the kids had a great time wandering around.  They each hauled around a tree branch of their own.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, we found the perfect tree!  Here we posed in front of it before sawing it down to take it home.

Daddy had the honor of cutting it down.  Our friends helped too!

Strapping the tree onto our rooftop and driving it home.  We made sure our eldest got off the roof before we started driving again.

Setting it up in our living room.

Here is our beautiful and nicely decorated tree.  I love looking at it!

We are proud owners of a real Christmas tree and we absolutely love it!  We are so not going back to owning a fake tree; thus, henceforth, we will be adopting this tree hunting, cutting, and hauling as our Christmas tradition.  Next year we’ll bring our own BBQ and make a picnic out of it.

Several of our friends from church generously offered to look after the children for a night so that we could enjoy an evening and a day by ourselves. We took them up on it, and drove over the hill to Santa Cruz, CA to relax and get refreshed.

We stayed at the West Cliff Inn, a bed and breakfast situated in an historic landmark building that was renovated a few years ago. It was a beautiful three-story house, with classic Victorian stylings and amazing high ceilings.  That we stayed on a Sunday night in the fall (off-season) meant that we also got nearly half-off their normal rate, which was great!

Here are a few photos of the house, common area, and our bedroom (which was very comfortable, including a terrific jetted spa tub and marble shower):

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In Luke 15:4-6, Jesus tells a parable about a shepherd who loses one of his sheep.

We’ve got our own version.

About a month ago, one of our children misplaced his precious lamb that he slept every night with.  This lamb may have been worn down, shorn (yes.  as in sheared.  by his “shepherd.” with shears.), and a bit dirty.

But he was loved.

The shepherd boy loved his lamb. So he looked and looked everywhere in our home.  But he could not find his precious “Lamby.”

And he slept, albeit uneasily, until after a couple of weeks, he got used to not sleeping with his little lamb.

But the boy’s father was not satisfied.

So he looked and looked, in every corner of his son’s room and every corner of the house.

But he too could not find his son’s precious lamb.

And so, as a last resort, the boy’s father pulled out a last-ditch measure, purchased on eBay many, many months ago for just this sort of disaster.

But the son was not much pleased, for this “New Lamby” (aka “Fat Lamby”) bore only faint resemblance to his beloved and worn little Lamby.

But after a few days, he began to grow used to the new version.  For ’tis better to have a small, huggable stuffy to sleep with than nothing at all.

Then lo and behold, one morning, this morning, as the boy was looking for something to wear in his room, he came upon a crumpled up shirt on the floor under his bed.

And he picked up the shirt, and discovered what was lost, wrapped up inside the shirt.

His precious Lamby was found.

And lo, there was much rejoicing.

Epilogue: “New Lamby” has now gone into “deep storage” in case Lamby is once again misplaced and/or lost.

Longtime friends of ours, many years ago, took up the sport of jump rope as a family.

They’ve since moved out of state, but this week drove back to CA to visit family and also host a free one-day jump rope clinic.

We jumped (ha ha) at the opportunity to participate.  Our oldest three got the chance to learn how to jump rope, and we adults got in on the action a wee bit as well.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Afterwards we ventured toward Sacramento, closing with a delicious dinner @ Chick-Fil-A.

After dinner as we exited the restaurant and chatted, the kids made the most of it and ended up jumping rope for almost an hour in the parking lot!  Here is some video footage of their double dutch adventure!

Some friends of ours host an annual charity carnival at their ranch in the Central Valley.  It’s such a wonderful effort they put on all to benefit a worthy cause every year.  This year’s proceeds went to a ministry called Drawn from Water whose focus is rescuing and providing for tribal children in Africa who are facing mandated infanticide.

It was a hot day in the Central Valley today, with temps in the low-to-mid ’90s.  Nevertheless, the attraction of fun activities for a good cause drew us up, and in spite of feeling the heat, enjoyed horse rides, carnival booths and a good time with friends.  Here are some snaps from our time.

Our family just got back from a homeschool family camp held at Jenness Park. Even though it was a spring camp, you wouldn’t have known it from the weather.  Beginning the first full day of the camp, it snowed over a foot and a half while we were there.  Despite the cold snow (which we didn’t adequately prepare for, clothing-wise), we had a great time at the camp.  It was such a blessing to be among fellow homeschoolers.  I love the fact that everyone, from infants to toddlers to teenagers and to adults, sat together to learn and have fun together.  This was truly a FAMILY camp.

Dr. Tommy Mitchell from Answers in Genesis came and spoke to us about creation, particularly with an emphasis on Noah and the Great Flood.  His talks held everyone, young and old, captive and engaged.  We came away much informed about the world God created.

The Wintons, a father and two sons bluegrass team, led the worship time.  I admit, I’m not a bluegrass person, but after listening to their music, I’ve been converted.  I suppose it helped that we had their CD playing continuously for three hours on the way home.  Even the kids are into the music and have been humming and singing the songs.

Among many other activities, the kids went to the great outdoors and rode on a zip line and a giant swing in the snow.

Our favorite activity was country line dancing.  What fun it is to be able to dance as a big group.

We’re all sad that the camp is over and we look forward to next year’s camp. Hopefully there won’t be snow but just sunshine.

As one author on parenting titled her book, “Aren’t they lovely when they’re asleep?”

Can I just add that I love bounce flashes?  All of the above were shot in pitch black bedrooms yet come out like all the lights were on!