One in five billion

Jen started dropping hints back in 2019 that she wanted to cut down our own Christmas tree this year. Krista was skeptical, but thought, “Hey, one year of trekking through mud and carrying a tree to the car won’t be so bad.” Plans kept changing, first because of the pandemic and then the weather, but eventually we set out on a Friday afternoon. It was cold, it was getting dark, Jen had picked a tree farm 45 minutes away, and Krista was worried about where we would get dinner afterwards, all while Jen seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing (suspiciously so, in hindsight). We arrived at the tree farm just before dusk, and when we got to the entrance, the owner approached us and asked, grinning, “Hey! How’d it go?” The farm had clearly been pretty picked over, so Krista curtly replied, “It hasn’t gone yet.” Even more skeptical now, Krista agreed to walk around because Jen said there was a cute tree in the back that had been decorated for a photo op. That tree did not disappoint. When we got to the back of the field, there was a perfect tree decorated with ornaments and lights and a little letter board in the middle with the words “Marry me?” Jen (sneaky, sneaky) had been in touch with the owner of the farm for months and had made the trip out to decorate the tree herself the day before. The owner had kindly allowed Jen to reserve a tree in an area that was not for sale that year, more than happy to help with the proposal. Jen crawled underneath to cut it down, then we dragged it back to the car. The way home was filled rehashing the events and Jen’s relief that she had pulled off keeping a major secret from Krista, who is usually pretty perceptive about these kinds of things! A plan for take-out quickly calmed Krista’s concerns about dinner, and we enjoyed it with the champagne that a neighbor had chilled at Jen’s request. The rest of the night was spent stringing lights on the tree and making sure Scout felt included in the special evening!