It's every family's fantasy: going to a tree farm and cutting down the perfect Christmas tree - without fighting! For the first year, that's exactly what we accomplished as a family. My 15 year-old stepdaughter wanted us to put up a tree in the kitchen with our collection of family ornaments. "It won't be a Style at Home perfectly designed tree," she said. "I just want to decorate with all our fun ornaments." I agreed. On the advice of my Style at Home colleague Catherine Therrien, we ventured out to Clembrook Christmas Farm just west of Milton. Our visit was a success.

Walking thorough the tree farm was a serene experience. It was an overcast day, but them fields still looked beautiful.

We walked up and down the rows looking for our "perfect tree." The wish list was simple: it needed to be symmetrical, but not TOO symmetrical, and needed to have full branches, but not TOO full. It needed to be tall, but not TOO tall. Most of all, my family and I all needed to agree on the tree. It only took about 20 minutes to find it: a simple Frasier Fir with a lot of personality! My husband and I shared efforts in cutting it down with the Swede saw we had brought (I pretended that cutting the 5-inch diameter trunk was difficult).

My husband hoisted it over his shoulder and we took it home.

Our tree didn't take long to decorate. My stepdaughter and I had fun going through all of the ornaments and telling stories to each other about the story of each one. I even have one of my late mother's ornaments on my tree. The result? It may not be Style at Home cover ready, but we think it's fabulous! Look for my next blog tomorrow: finding our "big" Christmas tree.