Hunting Christmas Trees

Scott likes to tell people about his Christmas tree. He tells them that it came from the forest. Sometimes he mentions that we have two trees. I prefer to tell the story a different way.

And I prefer to use pictures.


Last year we didn't even have a tree. This is not because we are scroogesque villains -- it's because we went away for nearly two weeks for Christmas and we didn't want to come home to a dead tree and a host of dead needles. We couldn't live with the guilt... or the mess.


However, this year we heard that R's sister J and her family were going out to forest to hunt wild trees, so we went along. Wrapped in thick layers of clothing and toting plastic sleds, our hunting party was prepared for anything winter could throw at us -- except for what we got.

It's much harder to pull a sled across dirt than across snow.


We found a good tree for our living room, and nearby we found a good tree for Scotty's room. Once I cut his little tree down, he told us that it wasn't the one he wanted. I hid the tree from view while I propped it up somewhere else and then asked him what he thought of it -- hoping that I could win his approval without cutting down another tree.

He wasn't fooled, but I think he appreciated the gesture and he allowed us to load the little tree into his cousin's blue plastic sled. This actually turned out to be an unfortunate move, since the sled constantly caught on various fallen logs or low-hanging branches. However, Scott's determination/stubbornness knew no bounds.


This was one of seven patches of snow observed that day.


Roof rack in action.


Trees that seem smaller in the forest look a lot bigger once you get them home. I had to cut about four feet off of the bottom of this one to make it fit in our living room.


Scott's tree required no such adjustments. In fact, it was so small, we could hardly find a string of lights small enough that it didn't overwhelm the slender branches. In his "Gym & Craft" class at the YMCA, he made two candy canes out of pipe cleaner and coloured beads. I showed him how to hang one on a branch of his tree, then I gave it back to him so he could try. He hung it in exactly the spot I had used, and then he hung the second one right next to it -- so close that they were touching. I guess he'll appreciate a little variety as he gets older.


A little tree doubles as a festive night light.

So, Scott likes to tell people about his Christmas tree. He tells them that it came from the forest. Sometimes he mentions that we have two trees. It is true.