Baby Waider + Little Brother Too: Oh, Christmas Tree!

Dear Baby Waider,

Well it's that time of year again. Time to head out into the forest and get our Christmas tree. I like to think of it as the launch to the good old fashioned Waider Christmas. As I stated last year mom has been doing this since she was a little girl. Dad has been going with mom since 2003. That's 9 years!!!

This year was much like every other except if course you were here which made it 1,000 times more special. And we took you sledding for the very first time, which you loved. Most other traditions were in-tact except Grandma and Grandpa Halter didn't get a tree this year. Highly controversial move which I am completely in favor of for several reasons. One, grandma Halter finds taking a tree from the forest to be the equivalent to cold blooded murder. Two, grandma Is not a fan of decorating the Black Hills Christmas trees. She's put in her time decorating the ridiculous things and without little kids living there so she's deserving of a year off. Plus, she wants all of us to help decorate, and finding time this time of year is tough. We have our own trees and houses to decorate, thus creating the third reason I'm in favor of it. Three, decorating with grandma halter is a walk down memory lane in the rain!! I'm sure she will be farklempt as she puts up her most special ornaments on the fake tree. Anyway, I think it's great they didn't get one. They have a beautiful fake tree up and it was great grandma Halter's and it is fantastic. And reducing some trauma to grandma Halter is a bonus. A tree in the forest lives another day due to grandma and grandpa's valiance.

You also proved yet again that 100% without a doubt you are MY child. You got a little chilled after digging and playing in the snow. You had a full on melt down! Which is fairly uncommon for you when you are experiencing anything new or having any sort of fun. Luckily dad thought of bringing you into the truck cranking on the heat and getting you warmed up. Luckily I thought of blaring Christmas music (your favorite) and hugging you really close. Both worked like a charm. You were happy and ready to go in no time and I loved the chance to cuddle with you because you wouldn't go to anyone else for once (we locked you away from grandma and grandpa) and you actually sat with me for a good five minutes!

I love the look on your face in this picture! FYI the lesson was learned and we bought you some excellent gloves shortly after this.

This morning as I was getting ready to go on this adventure I got to thinking about my favorite times going to get the tree. I have many and most run together, however, I'd have to say that by far my favorite time was the Christmas of 2006.

Prior to that tree outing your mom and dad had some trauma of their own. We. Lost. Mia. In Denver. We had gone to Denver over Thanksgiving and had decided to take Mia with us for something different. The weekend went relatively well, aside from Mia having a major accident in grandpa Marker's basement. It was the middle of the night when we smelled a horrific smell. We walked out and realized that Mia hadn't adjusted to traveling that well. So at 2 am your dad and I ventured out to Walgreens to get some carpet cleaner and some air freshener. Fortunately we got the mess cleaned up. But, the next evening we wanted to go out to dinner with dad's grandma. We weren't sure about leaving the super pooper unattended in the house so we decided that it would be best if we left Mia outside. That was a mistake that would cost us hours and hours of looking in dank and dark animal shelters while hysterically sobbing (that was me). When we returned from dinner Mia was nowhere to be found. Frantically we began looking for her all over the neighborhood. People had seen her not too long before we had asked them. A cop saw her trotting down the road and a woman saw her by the bushes in her front yard. We hurried in seemingly right behind her. We had missed several calls from grandpa Marker. He had seen her crossing Wadsworth (translation: huge busy road). He tried to get her in the car and she ran away from him. About midnight all leads stopped and Mia was nowhere to be found. We were devastated.

The next morning was Sunday and we began our search early. We went to all of the shelters that were open on Sunday and looked for our dog. The shelters were pretty terrifying and we didn't find Mia. I remember looking at rows and rows of dogs with no luck. I sobbed the entire time and sadly told the shelter that she had no name identification on her and that she had never been chipped. The nice workers at the shelter wished us luck but I could tell by their voices they didn't have much faith in us ever finding Mia.

On Monday grandpa Marker rode his bike all over Arvada and made many stops at the local shelter there. Grandma Halter called all the shelters. Many times. We would then show up at the shelters. They would often tell that they had talked to grandma on the phone or grandpa had been in to see them. We were pretty much all over the place but we made no headway other than leaving a detailed description of Mia everywhere we went. "A big black Newfoundland Weimaraner mix with a purple collar." The collar said "it's not easy being a princess." We also hung up hundreds of posters with pictures of Mia on it. The nice kid at Office Depot felt so badly for us that he gave us the copies of the poster for free. We also made contacts with many people who helped us look for Mia.

That afternoon reality hit. We would have to leave Denver without our beloved dog. The sun was setting as we took I-25 north. I cried and I'm pretty certain that it was the quietest drive back to Rapid City ever.

The next day I went to school and my students understood why I was pretty sad. They had heard countless Mis stories. They made me pictures and missing posters to help find them. That afternoon I felt oddly at peace. I went to your dad's school and sure enough a shelter had called and they had obtained a dog with Mia's description. When your dad asked if they were sure it was Mia the lady said, "Sir, there aren't many big, black, dogs with a purple collar that says, it isn't easy being a princess." We knew it was her.

Grandpa Marker rushed to pick Mia up from the shelter and he took the week off to be with her. We were thrilled. Grandma Halter made goodies for all the shelter workers and people who were so helpful. We got to tell all the people we found Mia and they were so happy! The only mystery that remained is the person who found Mia. He lived about 8 miles away from where she went missing. She had gone about 20 miles we figured based upon where people had seen her. The person who surrendered to the shelter wanted to remain anonymous. To this day I am certain it was an angel. An angel who returned my dog.

That Friday we headed out, in a snowstorm, to thankfully pick Mia up. Here are your dad and Mia playing stick in the snow!

When we returned grandma Halter had a party for Mia. My students made this welcome home sign for her.

Aww Super Kitty looks so nice! She was happy to have her buddy back. As a side note, YES, our walls were that color, and yes I chose that color. Yes, dad did repaint the walls the current color they are now less than two months after he painted them that color for me. As a trade he got to mount the giant northern pike that hangs on the wall now.

After we left the room Super Kitty got the sign down and began attacking it. You aren't surprised, are you?

Now, back to getting our tree! Mia always loved getting the tree. She loves it as much as we do. She gets to run and hike in the snow! Nothing better to her than that. The year after we got her back my heart was grateful. Your dad and I were so grateful and relieved. Our family was complete again. People told us over and over that once you have a kid pets don't mean as much. I disagree. Once we had you you love Mia as much as we do. Thus, since having a kid Mia is more loved than ever.

So, as I reflect back on all the years we have harvested trees from the hills I feel so blessed. We are all together again for another year. We are getting ready to celebrate another holiday season. Our tree cutting crew has grown and we are expanding tradition. All good things. As for the journey down memory lane in the rain for grandma. I totally get that. As super uncle Michael said one time, "These are the good old days." When these days are passed undoubtedly I will be sad too because it just doesn't get any better than this.

Love you!

Mama

And now for the iPad photo drop! I of course have thousands of pictures on the iPad from yesterday with no sensible way to get them on the blog quickly. So here are some shots from the day!