Reindeer Games

On Saturday, Mark and I pulled on our cowboy boots and ventured over the river and through the cornfields to Hardy's Reindeer Ranch. I have had a bit of an obsession with this place ever since I discovered it and getting our Christmas tree anywhere else didn't seem as festive. REAL LIVE REINDEER. You can't get more magical than that. Unless, of course, those reindeer appeared on your roof.

We walked through the little shop, drank hot spiced cider and made friends with the lazy little Reindeer. We opted out of the grab an ax and cut your own tree deal and we picked out a giant Fraser Fir that was raised and brought to Illinois from my beloved North Carolina. I really believe that Fraser Firs make the most beautiful Christmas trees and I'm so thankful that Mark agrees.

The ride home was quite an eventful one. In between Mark deciding to meander and take the long way home, and me making the care shake as I danced to Christmas music, we stopped not once, but twice, to get out and make sure that our tree wouldn't come tumbling off of our car! I could barely take a picture because I was laughing so hard as we got out of our car in the middle of the cornfields (literally) to check on our tree. At this point, 'NSYNC "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" had just come on the radio, and I had a little impromptu concert in the middle of a country road while Mark worked so hard to keep the tree tied up and safe. What has our life become!?

I'm so blessed to be stuck with this guy for life. As we make our own traditions and memories, especially during the Christmas season, my heart explodes with love and happiness. Life is so much sweeter when you have someone to share the little moments in life with. My sisters said during their Maids of Honor speech at our wedding, "Mark must be really special guy for Nina to move all of the way to the middle of Illinois for him".

(for the record, my sisters are almost always right)