Scenes from Hunting Season

Here is our pretty little princess in her camo. Please ignore the spit up. Mama took the bib off for the picture, just in time for the spit up. Awesome.

You will notice her hunting outfit, paired with pink frilly headband and socks. This is to incorporate the girly flair that she was born with. She insisted. She said, "Mama, my hair has not grown in yet...people will think I'm a boy."

I told her that we would only be with family, and that they know very well that she is a girl. But like I said, she insisted. I agreed because, really, she looks adorable in that darn headband!

Hubby and his family have been hunting since the beginning of time. Since the hunter-gatherers. Since there were no convenient supermarkets around the corners to pop over and get your meat. Wait...we still don't have that. Anywho, you get the picture. If you lived where we live, you'd love how convenient it is to have a freezer full of meat at your disposal whenever you want it. No hormones! No additives! All natural, baby.

I. Love. This. Picture. Look at my two little cuties.

This weekend, the beginning of hunting season, is a big celebration. The boys (and girls! Hi Christie!) get all excited for their big day of hunting, and everyone gets all excited for Christmas. It's a beautiful thing.

Reilly "putting up" her first ornament on the tree with Grandpa! I use the term "putting up" loosely, as in this case, it is synonymous with "trying to eat".

Hunting is a funny thing - some people have such strong views about it. It's not that big of a deal to me. I didn't grow up with it, but I'm very okay with it. Here's how I see it: I don't want to witness the animal die, I have no interest in that. But really, we use the meat to feed our family. Just like every other piece of meat in the supermarket, it's gotta come from somewhere. And Hubby and his family do things a lot more humanely than I hear the cattle companies do. (Cattle companies? I made that phrase up.) I'm not a fan of debates at all, if you have different opinion, I totally respect that. I just wanted to explain what hunting means to me, for those of you who may have gasped at the beginning of this post.

Grandpa is wondering why Reilly thinks the ornaments are edible.

We're working on it. Food: edible. Inanimate objects: not so edible.

Good luck to all the hunters! But if you see one with a red nose, leave him be. He has a greater purpose in this life.

Love & Camo,

Dirt Road Mama