I meant to post this before Christmas but then it got crazy and I hardly sat down in front to the computer all December. Now I am posting it so I can always remember this years tree. It was quite possibly the best tree. We had a wonderful Christmas and will be sad to take the tree down in a couple days.
When I was growing up my mom would make a calendar for the month of December with all the important family activities. Trips to santa, gingerbread house decorating and Christmas tree shopping. I still do this. I know which week will be my baking week and when we will get the tree and when I will decorate outside. I am horrible at sticking to deadlines I set for myself but the December ones seem to be an exception.
I can’t say picking out a tree has always been my favorite part but over the years I have come to enjoy it.
I was a grumpy kid and this family outing wasn’t always my favorite. I don’t think my parents did themselves any favors on that front by stopping at most of the tree lots in town.
We would all pile into the family station wagon that in true 80’s fashion was brown with wood down the sides. If we were really good my dad would let us sit in the seat in the back. You know that one that faces other drivers and that no auto maker would even consider adding these days? Then the long journey around town began. One lot was never enough for my parents. Some years we even stopped by the same lot twice. Plus the trip to the nursery to get the the garland for the banister and the mantle. I remember being so annoyed by about the fourth lot.
Once they finally picked the tree it was on to the fun of getting it home. In all the years we had that station wagon he never put the tree on the roof. Now a station wagon is big but it doesn’t exactly fit 4 people and a 7 foot tree comfortably. Michael and I always got stuck riding next to the tree no seat belt just us and pokey branches for the 15 minute drive home. Things were different in the 80’s.
When we got it home my dad did all the work and we stayed mostly out of the way until the lights were hung. Then every one got in on the decorating.
Even though I was a grumpy kid the day we got the tree has a special place even though I pouted through most of the decorating. My husband and I love Christmas and now I love picking out the three and the smell of the house when it is home. Every year has been a different experience so far but we got close this year. I am very nostalgic and want to recreate the shiny memory of picking out a tree that is in my head, minus the 5 stops.
Our first tree was from Home Depot. A little 7 foot Noble Fir. It was wide but a good little tree. I loved driving down the street and seeing it lit up in the window.
This year we went to the pumpkin farm down the road that sells trees for one weekend. They had the trees lined up on a hill and a little gift shop with ornaments and I got a tiny cup of cider. Shiny memory complete. I did some research on the kind of tree I wanted this year and after it was done I had my heart set on a Fraser fir. It did not disappoint.
