Over the years, the tree I’ve celebrated Xmas with has varied widely. Everything from none to massive, from 2′ artificial to live potted. But the most memorable was in the early 90’s. We were living in a semi-rural area and were invited to get a tree from the research forest. We were to cut them off high to establish a base for later grafting. They were unpruned, natural trees.
We found one in the open on a steep slope. It had nice even growth. We hauled it back to the parking lot and they wrapped the tree in a tube of mesh for us to easily bring it home.
We discovered the first challenge when we got it in the front door. Although it was not raining, it was a misty day and the tree held a surprising amount of
water in its leaves. Happily the area was tiled.
The second challenge was its size. It turned out to be 11.5 feet tall. Rather large for an 8 foot ceiling. I trimmed some from the top and the bottom to fit. I then put the tree up in place in it’s stand and spread plastic beneath it. It became apparent we’d have to move more furniture out of the way.
I then removed the mesh and the tree opened out 8 feet wide. More furniture got moved. It fully dominated the room. Even near the wall, it was like it was in the middle of the room.
The decor we had didn’t get far. We had to triple the supply to decorate it. And the gifts didn’t look quite so overflowing beneath it. It was certainly a grand tree, pictured above. Lots of memories resulted.
As it worked out, that was our last year there. The open space for the kids was wonderful and there was a farm just down the road where the kids could see the animals or select a pumpkin. But it was an epic commute down a jammed highway. I often didn’t get to see my youngest awake weekdays. We were back in the city soon after. The area has since become considerably more urbanized.
Whatever way you celebrate the holidays, I hope it a memorable one for you in the best of ways.
Happy Holidays,
Davidya