Christmas Traditions part 2

Each December my family had a pretty full schedule. Actually it all started right after Thanksgiving. We would go to a tree lot and buy our Christmas tree. The entire time I grew up we always had a real tree. I loved it, probably because I wasn't the one cleaning up after it. My parents now have a really nice artificial tree (mostly because my mom finally won the argument) that they use each year. Ah, but I digress. So, choosing a tree wasn't just a mere trip to the lot, it was a war mission. John and I would always take off and run around the lot and climb in between the trees spying on people pretending we were on some sort of secret mission. We'd always keep tabs on my parents so we would know when they needed us or so we could persuade them to buy a bigger tree or something. While out on our missions we would survive on nothing but peanuts. The lot we went to always had a big barrell of peanuts just waiting and pleading to be shelled and eaten, and we were only too happy to oblige. The shells would be discarded and thrown to the ground, casualties of our war. Even though it was never long, I always loved our annual trip to the tree lot. It always made for a great evening of high adventure.