This Year's Christmas Tree

We didn't cut a tree at Thanksgiving this year (since we weren't here). And with the combination of Anders and snow removal taking up so much of our time and energy, we got all the way to Christmas Eve without a Christmas tree. We needed to get one, though; without it we knew it just wouldn't feel like Christmas. With only the two of us (adults) here and one busy watching Anders, it was up to me to find a tree.

I grabbed a saw and ventured out into our woods on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. The weather wasn't exactly conducive to the task, though; snow had been falling for several days with little wind, so the branches of all the trees were heavily laden.

I took a quick walk into one of our Grand Fir stands. Since our trees are now many years past their Christmas Tree prime, it is a challenge to find one of an appropriate size to get into our Great Room. In previous years we have spent a fair amount of time looking for such a tree; since I was on my own this year and knew that I would have to drag it back to the house through about 2 feet of snow, I didn't spent too long on the hunt.

In about 15 minutes I had found a tree that I thought would work. It was, of course, way too tall - at least 30'+. After sawing it down, I cut it in half as a first approximation of what we would want inside. A second look told me that more would need to go. In the end I left three pieces of the tree in the woods and brought only the very top inside.

When I began to drag the tree back to the house, I was glad that I had selected one that was close by.

With some vigorous tree-shaking outside and a short drying period inside we managed to get most of the snow off. The worst part of any tree-decorating, at least in our house, is attaching the lights. (That's probably because we're a bit OCD.) It took us a few hours to light the tree and secure it in its base. There was plenty of room between branches for ornaments, which was a result of both the relatively quick search and the fact that it came from only the top. We waited until the following day to hang the majority of them, though.

The tree ended up at about 14' tall or so, which is a bit smaller than in previous years. It has always been a challenge to properly support a tree of the size that we (read: I) want to put up. We have a great space with a tall ceiling, so why shouldn't we put up the biggest tree we could fit? And you just know that Anders is going to want a big tree - think of the children!

Our solution has always been a combination of a standard-size Christmas tree stand and several guide wires connected to the window frame, and there has been varying degrees of concern as to the integrity and safety of this combination. This will be the last year that we have to worry, though; we finally bit the bullet and bought a commercial Christmas tree stand suitable for a 20' tree! (Thank you, Craigslist!)

And in years to come, when Rocket is a bit older (possibly next year?), selecting and cutting the tree can be a whole family event again!

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders Rocket