So, a family tradition we’ve done is go to a Christmas tree farm to pick out a Christmas tree. This year we tried a farm that I’ve been watching ever since they planted the trees (it’s on the way to some friends house). This was the first year they had trees to sell and it was a lot of fun…for me, Mark, Zoe, Liam and Josiah.

Ace, however, was in a mood. From the start he complained about everything. It was too hot. He wanted to ride the hayride. He asked at least 100 times if we were done. He wanted popcorn. He wanted hot chocolate. Agghhh! Let me clarify that the moment we reached the farm, we went over how it was going down…tree, hayride, hot chocolate and popcorn.

Somehow we managed to make it through picking out a tree and the hayride to get to the good stuff. Here was where my adventure began. Mark got the hot chocolate and popcorn and I corralled everyone around the fire pit (that wasn’t lit but smoking because it went out). Then he trekked out to pay for the tree. I was holding my drink and Liam’s drinking and Josiah in the sling. In between trying to help Liam drink and keeping Josiah asleep, Zoe kept complaining that her drink was too hot. She’d try to pass it off to me and then when I wouldn’t take it, she would take a sip and complain it was too hot (ya get the picture??). Finally, she did it enough that some hot chocolate splashed on her hands. Her gut reaction was to throw the hot chocolate…at me. Thankfully, it hit my leg, the tail of the sling and my sock. I was wearing blue jeans so my leg was okay. My foot felt the major part of the drink. Of course, after it happened so was crying because she had hurt me and because she had hurt herself. I felt so bad for her.

I hope next year that our family tradition does not include chronic complaining or hot chocolate burns!