Christmas Tree Picking with Family at Timbuk Tree Farm in Granville, OH - by Sarah Gaylor Photography - Lifestyle

I speak of Holiday Traditions and traditions in general, frequently. It seems that our family has a lot of traditions and family events. To me it is a blessing to have such wonderful, awesome times to document the special events and times of our lives. I hope to share this same aspect with several families by documenting their events for them in photograph! I want to share my experiences and hope to inspire others to do more, or start more 'traditions' with your family. Cherish everyday.

Every year since I was younger, my family always went to pick their Christmas tree at Timbuk Tree Farm (http://www.timbuk.com/) in Granville, OH. It’s a great place that lets you bring your entire family- including our four legged friends- for a day to be riding the school bus to your tree lot, finding the “yellow tag” deals wandering through the manicured pine rows, visiting with Santa, and enjoying popcorn and hot chocolate! We have had a lot of fun here and know it’s a tradition for years to come! This was Caelyn’s third year to the tree farm… The first year she was just a tiny baby, then last year, it was so snowy she didn’t get to enjoy much. This year, she really had a memorable time… It hit me that she is ‘remembering’ events at a much higher level than I thought when we were going to bed several nights later and she mentioned the school bus taking her to see Santa… I thought to myself, “what is she talking about?” and she then continued her story by saying that Owie and Nini were coming too- finally, it clicked! This was a major event for her and she was recalling it to tell me about it. So, being the parent that I am, we started telling the ‘story’ of the day. I started by saying we were going to drive to pick up a tree….

“Caelyn fell asleep in the car. But when we got there, she woke up and her Nini and Papaw were there and so was Auntie Em and Uncle Vada and…” before I could finish my sentence, Caelyn yells, “OWIEEEEE!!!!” It was so cute! So, I had to continue the adventure story. “We got all bundled up in the wagon and went to the top of the hill and you could see Christmas trees everywhere.

Then we heard the ‘ding-ding’ of the school bus waiting to take us to the lot.” Caelyn jumps in and says, “it was a big school bus”. Again, I grin and continue our story. “We all got on the bus and rode it to the Christmas tree lot” and she’s nodding a long with me saying “ahhuhh” and “yep” every now and then.

I get to another part of the story about the school bus- and it’s when we got back on to see Santa. “So, Mommy and Daddy and Caelyn got back on the bus to go see Santa! And what was on the bus?” I asked. “A DOGGY!!!” she says with a ton of excitement, “I pet him!”… I am just tickled that she remembers all this and thought it was adorable that she was anticipating the events. Crazy how much 2 year olds know and recall! So the story goes on…. “We see Santa and Mrs. Clause” where Caelyn jumps in again with, “she gave me candy!”

Then I reminded her of our popcorn and hot chocolate snack, and she remembered that her Nini got her a cookie and that we ate at the table. And now that I have gone on and on about our adventure, I will share some of the photos of the day.  I just wanted to share this, as it was incredibly funny to us, and I just love to share these memories with my family, friends, and fans.

It brought a great idea to mind- creating photo book with a story for reading every year before the tradition happens… It would be so fun to see the changes year to year. I hope my story of our Christmas tree picking tradition has been inspiring, and that you’ll ask me to come along to document the event- whatever it may be!!