It has always been a tradition in our house to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. I even refused a free tree from friends that were bringing some back from a Thanksgiving trip to Vermont, since they would not be returning until Saturday, and I knew there would be a major revolt by children if they even had to wait one extra day. (I, on the other hand, could use that one extra day to recover from Thanksgiving!)

And we always forget that you can go to the tree farm as early as September or October to “tag” your tree – meaning claim one and mark it with a tag with your name on it. Then you can return when it is closer to Christmas to actually cut it down. If you don’t “tag” then you end up finding “the perfect tree” only to discover that someone has already claimed it! Oh well…..it just means you have to look a little harder, and we always find a great tree. This year we are being really diligent to water the thing though, so that we don’t repeat this episode from last year!