Winter Wonderland and Christmas Trees

What a great adventure we had going to get our Christmas Trees this year! It had been so dry all fall that the week before (over Thanksgiving) the mountains were very dry, not a speck of snow. We of course were in California, so we had to have a tree cutting expedition the next weekend which was December 1st. Just the day before a storm came in and it snowed a lot, most of it on Saturday while we were up in the mountains. There was so much snow that Gichin's 4 wheel drive couldn't even get deep enough to get traction, so we had to get out and stomp the snow down to make a path for the tires. It was so beautiful with the snow weighing the branches of the oak trees all the way to the ground covering the road. We had to knock the snow off to get through some of the roadway. Some people were a little nervous that we would make it up and back out safely, but we did! We weren't able to go up as far as normal, so had to hike a bit of a ways to get to the pine trees. We weren't quite as picky as in years past, but find some great trees and had a major adventure!


Off we go in the back of the truck after parking the van!
Making tracks for the tires. It was A LOT of work and we all really had a leg workout.
Family picture of parents and unmarried kids.
The snow was so heavy on the branches, just so peaceful and serene up there. We were the only ones brave enough to go up.Dragging are trees back down to the truck. What a big job that was!The hot chocolate was very yummy after such a hard workout in all that snow and cold.Finally all loaded up with our 6 trees and praying we would make it back down. We only about slid off the road once.