Getting the Tree

We always have a natural Christmas Tree. I think I would be just as happy with a good artificial one, but that would never suit my husband. Throughout our marriage, we have had as large a tree as our house (and wallets) would accommodate. Our favorite tree is the Fraser Fir and we are very lucky that these lovely trees are grown right here in Western North Carolina.

We buy our trees at a tree farm out in the county. The trees are all very good quality, and the mountain view from the hillside is wonderful. Most trees are under nine feet tall, but this farmer has lots of taller trees as well.


We hiked up from the shed at the bottom of the photograph to see all the trees. The larger ones seemed to be higher on the mountain.

The hillside was covered with trees of all sizes and the views were fantastic.

The tree farmer's little Beagle took a liking to me and followed along as we looked at all the trees.

Aha! There it is! The perfect tree! We checked the height with our pole. A little over ten feet. Just right. Now for most people, this would be the end of the tree search. But not for my husband. No matter how perfect this tree might be, it's always possible there is another, even more perfect one waiting for us to find it. So we flagged this tree and kept looking.

After checking out every other tree on the hillside, we came back to the one we first selected. The tree farmer cut it down for us and pulled it behind his tractor down to the shed.

Our tree farmer is also a Baptist preacher. It's not at all uncommon for preachers in the rural areas to have another job. The churches are small, and so is the preacher's salary. I took his picture so you would have the opportunity to see a Jesus baseball cap.

I have no photographs of the rather humorous scene of getting that big tree into the house. Just the two of us. The tree was wrapped securely with netting at the tree farm, but that reduced only the bulk, not the weight. As soon as we opened the door to bring the tree inside, Ellie ran down to get in her crate. Lucy, on the other hand, sniffed and followed us all the way inside. After some rather frightening moments, and some laughter but no shouting, we finally got the tree into the stand and straightened it.

There it sits, straight and tall. Before long, the tree will be covered with white lights and tons of ornaments. It won't shed much at all since it was in the tree stand an hour or so after being cut.

And yes, the Canada Geese and the wheat will be gone, to be replaced by reindeer and holly. The tree looks as perfect as it did outdoors (and that is not always the case) and when you walk into the house you can smell the wonderful evergreen smell.

-----We decorated the tree yesterday. Some of the Christmas Spirit was lost in the expletives yelled at the television during the Green Bay Packer Game. Another game they should not have lost. But when the game was over, we put on Christmas carols and that, along with a little wine, put us back in the spirit of things.

If you celebrate Christmas, I do hope your tree will be the perfect one for you, whether natural or not.