A hunting we will go

A hunting we will go!

Location: Boulder Mountain; -10ºC; cloudy.

Daily Goal: With no work on the horizon this day for either of us, we opted to locate our "wild" Christmas tree.

Trials & Tribulations: Mike and I calculated it has been over a decade since we've decorated a real tree. Until Y2K loomed, fake trees were out of the question in our household. It was something we not only didn't compromise on, it was never even contemplated.

Then, as the century turned, we made the decision to travel to the coast and embrace what some predicted might be "the end of the world" with family and friends. Do you recall, everyone was stock piling food and water in preparation?

Predictions ran rampant that all computer systems would fail due to programing with no foresight to the turn of a century. When systems were destined to flip to "00" all the clocks would default to 1900, rather than 2000. As almost everything known to man was connected to computers (street lights, security systems, tills at the grocery store) society as a whole was destined to come (potentially) to a screeching halt. Chaos would reign.

We decided we'd spend the end of the world at the coast. Yet, the thought of not putting up a tree was out of the question. The thought of abandoning a live tree to dry up for a week was equally out of the question. We purchased a fluffy fake one, and have never looked back.

It has been well over a decade and our fake tree wins every time. The older the girls get, the more difficult it is to schedule a tree trimming.

"You can make it December 3rd. Great! December 3rd it is."

Appalled the first time this occurred, Mike (tried to) put his foot down,

"We have never put up our tree in the first week of December!"

"Shut up and start fluffing up the fake one. Then we won't have to worry about all those needles drying up and making a mess when it's still standing a month from now!"

This year - schedules aside - we opted for not only a live one, but a wild one. Put up only one week before Christmas. Wonders never cease.

Following a 15-minute sojourn into the woods, we located this beauty.

Now I distinctly recall the last time we went a-hunting for our Christmas tree. We traipsed all over Hell's half acre to do it, dragging the children along with us. Mike was convinced there was always a better specimen over the next hill (mountain), or down in the next valley. We hiked for hours, only to settle on the one located closest to the truck.

I vowed, never again.

Luck was with me this year because we had to have a "little one". . . well, little by Mike's standards. No hiking for hours in search of the "perfect" tree, destined to fill up half our living room. No. Due to the fact we installed two wall units flanking our fire place, there isn't much choice as to where a Christmas tree will go. Aside from relocating either these shelves, or the piano, the Christmas tree has been reduced to a tight squeeze.


Successes: Photos snapped on the way home made for a perfect e-vite.


Failures: For Mother Nature to grow cultured Christmas trees. After carting this one home, and mounting it in a stand, Mike said,

"The holes in this tree are so big, you could drive a truck through it!"

I created a set of 4 photos, telling the story of our little tree and placed them into glass drink coasters. One glance at the tree in its natural setting in the woods and Jessica commented,

"Never in a million years, would I have taken a second look at that tree. I can't believe Dad cut it down."

Charlie Brown would be so proud of me :)