The annual quest for the perfect Christmas tree was accomplished this weekend. I’m sure everyone has their own little rituals around choosing the right tree to bring home and decorate. Here at our house, we have our own list of criteria.
Firstly, it must be tall, around 8 to 9 feet so I can trim the height without losing too much. Second, it shouldn’t be too cylindrical. A nice upside down V shape is preferred. Lastly, I like a certain pine needle, but these days I can’t seem to find it unless it’s ten feet tall or two feet short. So I have to compromise on the last item and concentrate on the first two. I would take a tree that was sparse in branches if it was the right needles. I don’t have a problem with a real tall ‘Charlie Brown’ kind either.
We used to visit the local garden shop as a family on the weekend before Christmas. There would be alot of back and forth about which tree was best. Everyone needed to add their input. Once we were all in agreement we made our purchase and took the tree home where we propped it up in a bucket of water until we were ready to bring it inside to decorate.
When I was little my father would buy the biggest tree and put it up as we slept on Christmas Eve. He loved the shock and surprise we had Christmas morning seeing this huge, decorated tree with presents under it. My sister and I would be in awe. Later in years our parents told us Santa Claus needed help so we’d get the tree together and put it up Christmas Eve. A little less stress for them, different fun for us.
This year I went with my sister for our trees. The Mr. was working, as was Son #2. Son #1 has his own tree to buy for his little family. We were on our own, which was fine because there was just the two of us to discuss the purchases. I asked Son #2 if he wanted to go, but after he said he had to work on Saturday, and Sunday was out because a rain storm was expected, he told us we had better know what we were doing. Oh, thanks alot!
Most of the trees were short this year. Most of them were not of the V shape I was looking for, and only the twelve foot trees had those pine needles I prefer. Everyone at the store was eyeing the trees that did have good height so we had to keep saying “We’re interested in these.” We needed one tree for my house and one for my mom.
With our trees purchased, we move on to the guy who trims the trunk to fit the tree stand. Thank goodness we had our stand with us or else we’d have to do that job at home, not fun. He trimmed both and left the stand attached to the second tree, hoisted them atop my car and tied them down. The tree stand was hovering over my car windshield, but the garden guy said it would not fall off. I wasn’t so sure about that, however. No, no, it will be fine, he assured us. We drove off for home. I forgot all about taking pictures of our adventure tree shopping! That would have been fun to see in pictures.
While I was driving, the tree stand was bouncing in front of my windshield. So my sister said we should take a picture of it. I don’t know why it struck me as funny, but after she showed me the photo I couldn’t stop laughing. We were driving and hysterically laughing. I had tears streaming down my face and we laughed all the way home.
