Visiting the tree farm

At the beginning of December, we received notice that there would be a school field trip to a local tree farm.  We were very excited, to say the least, even though the first couple of weeks of December were very rainy and cloudy.  We were still game.  Through an odd glitch, Gracie did not get to go with her class, but she and I went on our own so she would not be a jealous mess when Lauren went with her class. 

Gracie enjoyed posing:

And riding in Santa's sleigh:

We met the resident reindeer, Forrest and Holly, before they headed to the North Pole to help Santa.  Holly was too hungry to pose, but here is Forest:

.  When her day to visit the tree farm arrived, Lauren also had fun in the sleigh:

She enjoyed various poses:

Because it was less wet on the day Lauren went, she also had fun playing in the trees:

We also had an outdoor picnic lunch, complete with a sprinkling of rain, but we had a fantastic time nonetheless. 

Their favorite part of the excursion was a visit to the gift shop.  Gracie selected a Santa decoration, and she proceeded to haul Santa with her wherever she went, despite our warning that this particular Santa is a decoration -- not a toy.  A week after purchase I found what I thought were toy remnants on the family room rug.  I called both Lauren and Gracie to the scene to find out who had destroyed a toy and not bothered to take the remains to the trash.  (Truthfully, I was thinking that one of our happy meal toys had been trashed.)  They both walked over, and Gracie began wailing, "Santa!  SANTA!  SANNNNTTTAAAHHHHH!!!!!" 

Much crying ensued. 

The stray pieces of yarn had been the pom-pom attached to the end of Santa's hat.  We collected all of the pieces and sent a 9-1-1 e-mail to Grammie who was able to make a new pom-pom and restitch Santa from head to toe so that there are no more mishaps. 

Gracie had given Lauren a complete report on the tree farm, complete with a verbal layout of the gift shop.  Gracie had cautioned Lauren that there was not another Santa -- she obtained the only one -- but that there was a snowman.  Lauren obsessed about that snowman until the moment she crossed the threshold into the gift shop.  To her complete shock and surprise, there was a Santa, just like Gracie's, sitting on the shelf.  She scooped up Santa, plopped him on the counter and talked about him nonstop all the way home.  Gracie wasn't bitter about the purchase at all; she was gracious about sharing the Santa glory.  In fact, she screamed, "TWO SANTAS!!!!" 

After all, two Santas are better than one.