Christmas Tree Hunt

Christmas trees are a big deal for me. I mean, Evergreen Lady right? So naturally around Christmas I start itching to get a tree. For my years living in Arizona, having a real tree wasn’t exactly feasible as the only options cost about a hundred bucks and were dried out little match sticks. So I had a fake one. Once we moved here, I knew it was going to be on like Donkey Kong.

Growing up, we had a fun tradition of the magical tree. My parents would bundle my sister and I up on a drizzly night, and have us hunt for pinecones. Once we were thoroughly soaked and had found a handful of pinecones each, we would go back inside and place the cones in the tree base. We would water them, go to bed, and in the morning, POOF! There was a tree in the stand. Now obviously I know this wasn’t real, but my parents were so dang good at it that I didn’t find them out until I was sixteen. The thought still makes me chuckle.

With those thoughts in my head, Tom and I wanted to make our own tradition. Him being a boy scout, he wanted to cut our own tree. We found a local farm, and went on a trek. It was pouring down rain. Absolutely pouring. But out we went. Thankfully, Schilter Farms is an amazing place, and no, this is not sponsored. When you pull up, they have a warm barn loaded with fudge and Christmas goodies. As you enter, they offer you the option of picking a precut tree or to cut your own. They have the saws primed and ready for you, and a quick stroll or tractor hayride will take you out to the trees.

There were four or five kinds to choose from, Nobles to Douglas, Royals and Frasier. The Farm is laid out in a nice grid pattern, all tree kinds labels and pathways to walk down. It being Tom and I, we can’t make it that easy on ourselves. What did we end up doing? Hiking out through the mud and muck, hunting for that “Perfect” tree. Fog and rain coated our glasses, but we slugged on, searching for a fluffy, full, but not too poofy tree, with just the right kinds of limbs. Even though we were cold and wet, and totally covered in mud, we had the best time. Frozen laughter and smiles each time we slipped and slid on our search.

Thankfully, Tom is handy, and once our tree was located, he got right down in the muck and mire to cut that bad boy. Now that we had our tree located, how the heck were we going to get it back to the barn? Schilter strikes again and little four wheelers zip throughout the farm looking for those who have found our trees. Since we were extra special and had located our tree in the way far back corner, Tom had to carry the tree to the tractor. The mud was too much for the four-wheeler and he didn’t want to get stuck. After schlepping the tree to the tractor, we enjoyed a freezing hayride back.

The farm guys tagged our tree, shook it out, and netted it for us. Thankfully, we just equipped ourselves with a new Subaru Outback, so we were able to toss the tree inside and sit behind the defrosters trying to thaw ourselves out. Even though the temperature was 39, the rain had frozen us to the core, but we were laughing and dying over our little escapade. We decided then and there that we would do this every year, rain or shine.

Getting the tree in the base was another small adventure, as we had to cut away a few branches. The end result was pretty gorgeous though, and we went with a red and gold theme this year. Here is a shot of the finished tree. There really is nothing like sitting around the tree, lights twinkling, with your loved ones, that really makes the holidays complete.

Until Next Time!

Merry Christmas!

Evergreenlady