Places to Go - Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree and Jumping on the Gigantic Pillow at Ticonderoga Farms (Chantilly, VA)

I'm usually way behind the Jones' when it comes to Christmas decorating. But this year, I (okay, "we") are on the ball. We purchased our tree last Saturday, before December even began (which, if you know me, is all sorts of amazing).

This year we decided to tree shop at Ticonderoga Farms, based on KidFriendly DC's glowing review. And it turned out to be the perfect place for our family. We first checked out the huge pavilion of already-cut trees, but then we decided we needed to saw.

We've never cut down our own tree before (well, except, last year, when we chopped a tree in our backyard), so I found this whole experience sort of awesome. But the kids were bored within minutes (they complained while poor Dan sawed and sawed away). On the upside, my mom was visiting and she managed to grab some photos of our whole family (yay! I'm in the photos! I'm in the photos!).

Of course, the huge upside to Christmas tree shopping at Ticonderoga Farms is that on weekends they also have a "Winter Festival". For $7.95 a person there are slides and wobbly bridges and jumping pillows and friendly farm animals. Basically, all sorts of family fun, including fire pits to keep everyone warm and toasty. The kids had a blast. And I had a blast watching them have a blast.

If you're interested, click here for more info about the farm.



I keep trying to take photos of all three together, as such moments keep becoming harder and harder to come by spontaneously.