This weekend we set out on our yearly adventure to procure the annual Christmas tree. We pay $5 for a permit to go and cut down a tree on national forest land. That is a fabulous deal monetarily, but it also is a memory we cherish every year.
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| Trees with snow on them looks thick and full and beautiful. |
With daylight running out, we hurried to try to find a great tree. We knew we had to find a tree and haul it back out before we ran out of daylight.
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| Carl and I ready to find the perfect tree. |
The type of trees which were in the area were all pines, but very thin. So, we had to search for quite a while. We found lots of other things during our expedition.
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| Are we hunting rabbits? No, we are hunting for a Christmas tree! |
Thank God it is not easy to get lost in the woods when there is thick snow on the ground. You can track back where you came from or what path the kids took. There were other unexpected things along the way like a possible Sasquatch sighting.
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| Is it Sasquatch? No, it is my husband sporting his new winter goatee! |
We finally found a tree. It was the best one we could find. We knew it wasn’t fabulous, but the pickings were slim. There were tons of trees, but they were all very spindly. Next year we will need to find a new spot to hunt, I think.
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| My blessings! |
So, we loaded up the car and drove home. Once all the beautiful fluffy snow melted and the tree was the in the tree stand, we were hit with the true realization of how homely our tree was. Every time any of us looked at it, we would chuckle and almost have to avert our eyes. Carl and I even contemplated how we might be too embarrassed to invite anyone over to our house over the holidays due to the ugliness of our tree.
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| Charlie Brown would be proud! |
So, we pulled out all of the moss and the dead needles. We trimmed it up a little bit. The lights and ornaments we put on it distracts from actually having to look at the tree itself. So, we have just decided to embrace the ugly tree. After all, it sacrificed its life so we could hang stuff on it and put presents underneath it. I think Charlie Brown would be proud, but even Charlie Brown knows that a tree does not make it Christmas. It is Christ who makes it Christmas!
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| Our decorated tree |
😉 much better with the trimmings!