I woke up around 8am to find the rest of the family already up (minus the girls). Lars was cooking pancakes and it was a glorious Saturday morning. After breakfast Micah, Lars and I played Pass Intercept. You need an NFL ball and 3 or 4 people. It was a fun game and we must have played for over an hour or so.
Back inside the college football was on tv. The girls made their favourite macaroni cheese for lunch and I put on lots of pepper to take me back to the days when dad would let me steal some of his on the couch late at night.
We measured up the space for the Christmas tree and all 8 of us headed off in the suburban to the tree farm. It was such a great afternoon.
At the tree farm they had a lovely set up. They had two clysdale horses and we fed them. They were beautiful horses. They had hot apple cider and a fire to roast marsh mellows. We jumped on the back of the tractor and was taken out into the plantation to choose a tree. The boys wanted a big one – at 10/11 foot tree. We searched through the rows of trees looking for a perfect Christmas tree. Not sure if they were being nice but I stumbled upon a good looking tree and they all agreed on it. We sawed it down and dragged it 50 meters to the road and waited for the tractor. I was asked to sing the Australian national anthem as they didn’t know it while we waited for the tractor.
Back at the barn they shook the tree with an oscillating base and drilled a hole for the stand. They slivered on a plastic mesh to pull the branches in and we tired it on the car roof. The owners were very friendly and had a great sense of humor.
Back at the home we brought the tree inside and put it up on the base – only to find it was crooked. Lars sawed of 20 cm and we drilled a new hole. This time the tree sat well and we vacuumed up the mess.
Lars made the Stangebyes chocolate sauce and we enjoyed it on ice cream, fruit and just eating it straight. It was a secret recipe and unfortunately I couldn’t catch him making it. It was a real treat.
Noah led the way in decorating the tree with ribbon and decorations. Each year they kept the ski passes and when they were replayed with the new ones, the old passes were hooked onto the tree. It was a nice touch at there is a photo of you on the card, so it made the tree personal. 
We ate Grandmas famous noodle and turkey soup for dinner. She hand made the noodles.
After dinner I quickly packed and we all gather around the tv to watch the second part of Father of the Bride. This was one eventful movie with lots of surprises and laughs.
After catching the last quarter of the college football game, (Stanford won) I headed off to bed and fell asleep rather quickly. It was a big day and my last here in the house. I would be sad to leave. It was such a fun and exciting family to be apart of for a week and being away from my home for so long made me really appreciate the small things that I’ve been missing that a family brings. For example banter with the brothers, grandmas cooking, and all hanging around to watch movies at night.
I had great memories of the week in Montrose.
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