The tree hunt

Today was the annual Buxton family mountain Christmas tree gather. Seth,

Ryan,

James,

Mattie,

Piper and I...

headed up to the Colorado high country...

in search of house sized holiday trees.

We found a good candidate just a few steps from where we'd parked.

But where's the fun in that? We kept looking.

Our search took us up and down a ridge and over some giant rocks.

We found deer poop,

bear poop (a giant pile!)...

and a most magnificent piece of wood.

The wood went home with James and Mattie. 

I'm more than a little bit jealous.

Eventually, we found our trees.

By this time, the sun was dipping low in the west so. We headed down the mountain...

and back to the car.

There weren't any gorgeous snowy vistas this year - it's been so dry - but it didn't matter.

This was such a fun day.

The mountain Christmas tree gather is a newer tradition for us, but one I love whole heartedly. I hope we can continue doing this together for years and years to come.