As it is every year, the hunt for the Hauer Christmas tree took place on the first Saturday in December. For the first time in 6 Christmases; however, we knew where we were headed. One place: Kelley Robbins’ farm. Unlike last year, the camera was charged and it was 60 degrees outside. This hunt was going to be efficient and fun.

We got there at 10am. No one in sight. It’s not like it said “closed”, it was just empty. Bill went in search of someone to no avail. We found their dog though. After a half hour of hanging out in the parking lot, we figured we may as well go and select our tree so that we’d be ready when someone showed up. We drove 40 minutes, and we wanted our tree.

Needless to say, after an hour of pretending we owned the place and letting Molly run free and Jack being picked up and put down every 2 minutes; we’d selected the one. Still, no one was in sight. Except another couple doing the exact same thing as us. We drove 40 minutes, and we wanted our tree.

So, instead of giving up on good ol’ Mr. Robbins, we headed back into town to grab lunch.  The lovely couple invited us to sit with them at Roadhouse USA but by that time, Jack had decided he had too much fresh air so a nap would be good. So Bill and I enjoyed Sonic. Well, I tried to – probably should’ve just gotten a shake. Successful at killing 30 minutes, we headed back to the farm. One more time. We drove 40 minutes, and we wanted our tree.

Seriously. No one was there. Jack was still sleeping. This isn’t going according to plan. Just as I was about to lose it, here comes Mr. Robbins. Apparently he just got back into town from a niece’s wedding in Indianapolis. He was as jovial as ever. I was kind of over it. Bill went down to get the tree with him while I stayed at the car. We drove 40 minutes, and we GOT our tree. But, not a lot of pictures. Two more than last year.

Where are they?

Our tree is that way!

Got it.

Tis the season. Merry Christmas.