It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We were very busy in the Burpo household this weekend decking the halls with boughs of holly. Though just to be clear - there wasn't actually any holly involved, but there was definitely a real Christmas tree and several fake items like berries and snowmen. But moving along, after a Friday evening of pizza and Rock Band with the Hyders (well, except Zach who just watched because apparently he's too good to play with the Stumptown Burpies) we sprang out of bed bright and early Saturday morning to begin our holiday extravaganza weekend.

Our first stop was at Village Inn so that we could all indulge in a highly caloric and generally extremely unhealthy breakfast (but boy was it tasteee!). It's good to know we can always count on the ole' VI to start our weekend off right. And this breakfast was particularly important because it was the fuel that would get us through our next stop and perhaps the main event of the weekend: securing the 2008 Burpo tree.

Now, there are a lot of Christmas trees in Oregon. In fact, not too surprisingly, Oregon is the #1 producer of Christmas trees in the United States. And where you get your tree determines how much of a True Oregonian you are. For instance, someone who goes to a grocery store lot is clearly not even eligible for their True Oregonian card. Actually, don't even bother applying. Now, if you've advanced to one of the plentiful "U-Pick" farms out in the country - then you are eligible for what they call a Semi-Oregonian card. And True Oregonian status? Well, that is awarded when you actually get your $5 permit from the U.S. Forest Service, pack up the car with safety gear and a sled, and hike into the Mount Hood National Forest to cut down your own tree. Some folks probably do some mountain climbing while they're at it because that's the type of thing that True Oregonians do for fun on the weekend. But seeing as how we clearly have not yet reached that status - we opted for one of the "U-Pick" farms. We chose the same one that we attempted to go to last year on perhaps the coldest, rainiest, windiest day of the winter. And let me just say that was a really good time until we decided that our lives were more valuable than U-picking our tree and aborted the mission in favor of heading to our local nursery on a lovely sunny day the following weekend.

This Saturday, we had much better weather. And now that I had the chance to get a good look at it this year without fearing for my life, this little farm called Lee Farms has everything a good tree farm should have: a store with ornaments, hand made wreaths and garland on site, and homemade apple cider donuts - which unfortunately we were not able to partake in due to the bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, french toast, etc. still sitting like a brick at the bottom of our stomachs. So our tree experience went like it usually does: We wandered around for a bit while Jeff and Ian patiently trailed along. And then once we hit about say, the 30 minute mark, Jeff started to get that look in his eyes. You know, the one that says, "Just choose a damn tree now because Ian is getting impatient and I'm ready to go home." Which of course only made me feel more indecisive because now there's major pressure on me which is really more than I can handle. But I worked through it and finally we all agreed on a beautiful nine-ish foot Noble.

The next stop was of course back home so that we could get the tree in the house, in the stand and begin the all-important decorating process. Jeff had already given us a head start by checking and organizing all the lights earlier in the week. The whole process went very smoothly until we started on the light application later in the afternoon. We had a few issues there, but nothing that a little spiked hot apple cider couldn't cure. By early evening our pretty tree was almost complete minus a little ornament project we were saving for later. We fed Ian dinner and then got him off to bed while Jeff finished up a very yummy "let's celebrate because we got the tree up" dinner for us of his special Cowboy steaks, crab legs, pasta and some tomatoes with a basil, pine nuts and melted cheese topping (or something like that). All quite delectable. Oh, and of course all washed down with an Oregon pinot. Later that evening we watched 12 Angry Men which I had never seen before but highly recommend.

On Sunday the festivities continued with outside lighting. At first things were a little touch and go because unlike the sunshine we had the previous few days, the weather had turned quite cold, rainy and foggy - and Jeff looked pretty comfy cozy on the couch watching football. But late in the afternoon we got up our energy and headed outside to complete the holiday preparations. This year we added a few little fake snowmen to the front yard that I think add the all-important cute factor. Plus, Ian appears to be a fan of the whole snowman concept. Then we went back inside and had a little impromptu ornament painting party. I had purchased a few unpainted ornaments from Michaels (which, by the way, might be deserving of its own post later on due to my new obsession with this store) and each of us decorated our own ornament and hung it on the tree. I like Jeff's snowman a lot, but I have to say that Ian's little teddy bear is my favorite.

So, I guess it's safe to say that our halls are officially decked. Now on to all that other stuff.
Until I write again.