The first Christmas Tree

I was meaning to post these a long time ago but now is better than never. After Thanksgiving, we went with Grandma and Grandpa Tilson on the annual Christmas tree pilgrimage to Elgin. I'm not sure how long this has been a tradition, but it's been a number of years. Every year, the Tilson's, Biel's, and Bookout's head to Elgin to chop down a Christmas tree. It starts with a stop at the Dollar Store for the women while the men sit out in the parking lot and drink a beer. After that, it's off to the Christmas tree farm to cut down trees. So far, the McKinney's haven't actually cut down a tree because I'm a picky and like the Carolina Fraiser Fir trees, so Kathy lets me buy one of those since we can't drive to the mountains and cut one down ourselves like we use to do in NC. I digress, back to the story. So we hit the choose and cut Christmas tree farm in Elgin and rode around on the hay trailer till they dropped us off at the designated cut spot. It was chilly that day and Grandma just wanted to find a tree quick and get out, so the Tilson's pretty much cut down the first tree they saw, with Kara's help of course. After the tree cutting, we went to the Elgin sausage and bbq place and had some bbq. The rules state that you have to bring a pocket knife with you to cut your brisket and sausage, otherwise you will be ridiculed by Walter, so we all go our pocket knives out and had some bbq. We headed home after that because Kathy and I were exhausted from not sleeping much the night before (due to a little poker party at Uncle Doug's house in San Antonio that was a little loud and didn't stop till 4am). It was fun to take her to get her first tree though, we had a good time. Can't want for Christmas to be here next week! It'll be a lot of fun.