An Iowa Christmas Story

This was supposed to be the entry where I told the story of our merry journey to cut our own Christmas tree, and it is that. It also took an odd turn, though. More on that later.

Sarah and Asher got back from Omaha yesterday, and we headed out to a Christmas tree farm outside Minburn, IA. It was a sunny day, but windy and absolutely bitter cold. We walked back to the back corner of the farm. Asher picked out the perfect tree for us, a nice white pine.

I went and got a saw, cut down the tree, and hauled it back to tie it to the top of the car. We spent some time in the warming hut drinking cocoa and eating homemade cookies with the wonderful couple who own the farm. We then drove home, set up the tree, and decorated it. It is incredibly fresh and smells wonderful in the house.

If you are ever in Minburn, IA and need a Christmas tree or a freshly made wreath, we know a great place!

I went and got a saw, cut down the tree, and hauled it back to tie it to the top of the car. We spent some time in a hut drinking cocoa and eating homemade cookies with the wonderful couple who own the farm. We then drove home, set up the tree, and decorated it. It is incredibly fresh and smells wonderful in the house.

Last night we went into Des Moines for some shopping, dinner, and a trip to Jolly Holiday Lights. JHL is a fundraiser for Make-a-Wish. You drive in a line of cars down a winding, 3.3 mile long road through Water Works Park. The whole way, there are light displays along the road. It is very cool, and leaves you with a real Christmasy feeling.

OK, now for the story. Today, I realized my cell phone was missing. We both spent the afternoon tearing apart the house, looking for it. Finally, tonight, we gave up and were watching the very exciting season finale of Stormchasers. Suddenly, we heard the very distinctive ring Sarah's phone does when I call. She picked it up, and sure enough, somebody had our phone. They had found it in the grass and snow, way out in the many-acre tree farm. I drove out to their house tonight, in a nearby town, and got my phone back. This kind of thing happens in Iowa all the time. People hopelessly lose something, then someone finds it and tracks them down. The Des Moines newspaper has a special column where they print stories like that. Anyway, tonight, I was looking at pictures to use for this blog, and found the following two pictures:

This is a picture Sarah took while I was hauling the tree away. You can see the stump where our tree was. If you look in the upper right hand corner, there is my phone. It is sitting where it was dropped, where it would be left until the good samaritans found it. I saw this picture and thought "how funny that we have a picture of that."

Then I saw this picture. Here I am moments before, actively in the process of cutting down the tree. If you look just to the left of my elbow, you can see the exact moment the phone fell out of my pocket!!!! It is still in the air, it hasn't hit the ground!!

The moral of this story I guess, is don't get down on the ground without checking that your pockets are secure. Maybe another moral is that people are still decent, and sometimes you can still be blessed even if you make dumb mistakes. Merry Christmas!