A belated Christmas tree tale… We found our Christmas tree in the field this year. Finding the perfectly shaped pine or cedar, with a crisp, sunny day highlighting the enchanted experience, may be how most of us envision those home-grown Christmas trees coming. But, if you’ve ever gotten a tree straight from the pasture, fencerow or gulley, you know that usually the experience is much less magical and much more work.
Our adventure began with us realizing the chainsaw was broken, and the other one was locked in a shed. So, we scoured around and found a saw. I thought, surely we can tackle a small cedar with rusty, but sturdy saws with no trouble, right? After 45 minutes of frantic, almost manic sawing, and then grunting and tugging the prize back to the truck, we realized we’d gotten ourselves a real doozy. Back at my house, the tree stood well taller than the gutters of my house, and, upon further inspection, was quite uneven in balance. Much more sawing ensued, and we finally decided we’d give the ol’ gal a go inside. We’d come this far, afterall.
There was not a single side to that tree that didn’t look like it’d been starved for light up next to another tree. I was pretty embarassed about this tree standing in my house for the Christmas season, but as time went on I came around. I made sure our mangled tree’s boughs were decked, her gaping holes ostentaciously filled with large bows and clusters of jingle bells. It was by far the ugliest tree I had ever seen, despite all our labors of love.
But, now that it’s time for takedown, I’m worried about the lasting effect the sharp cedar spines will have on my rug. I’ll never find all the pieces of cedar branches to sweep up, either. I think that’s all part of the fun of a real farm-grown tree. I hope your tree made you happy this Christmas. Blessings to you and yours in the new year.
God Bless,
