On 5 December, we went with our friends the Adams’s to get our first family Christmas tree.
For the first few years we lived here, Anna and I went to a tree farm to get our tree. It was a small farm, and they usually had coupons that came in those mailer things that you can’t stop getting even if you opt out. You know, the one with all the pictures of babies on vent and HVAC cleaning ads? Because everybody knows if you don’t get your vents cleaned every day, your child could possibly inhale something.
Last year, we went to our tree farm to find out that it was no longer there, and instead there was a shiny new shopping center. We did what any normal American would do in this situation – shopped in the new shopping center. Then, afterwards, we went to one of those parking-lot tree sales places and got a pretty good tree for not too much money. And it was alive, too!
This year, we did something really cool: on a tip from the Adams’s, we purchased a permit to go into Pike National Forest and cut down a tree. We got a baby carrier from Craigslist, strapped the boy to my back, and hiked into the forest about twenty feet and a climb in elevation of about twenty feet before starting to pant heavily. Not only am I horribly out of shape, but Owen is also quite heavy.
The tree we got – not really sure what it is. It’s pine of some flavor, with pinecones as a natural ornamentation, and no squirrels or birds in it. It’s a little less thick than some of our other trees we’ve had, but it’s cool because the whole family hiked into the forest to get it. Would do again – pictures here.
