The Christmas Tree

Every Christmas tree has a story behind it. This year's tree is no exception. Anne, our house-mate/ woman we are pet sitting for until April, suggested that we should cut one from her yard. I thought she was joking until the two of us went traipsing through the yard in search of the perfect tree. Apparently this wasn't the first time she had done this! We have had about three feet of snow since October, but much of it is packed down so you can walk on top of it, or at least that is what we thought. I spotted a tree that looked like it had potential when all of the sudden the snow gave way and I went post holing (sinking down several feet into the snow). I sank down almost to my knees. What fun!

Fortunately I was wearing my Muck boots that ride just below my knees so I stayed relatively dry. Anne however, was wearing tennis shoes, so she had a more interactive experience. We spotted the tree and had many laughs about our adventurous situation. The tree looked like it was about 2 1/2 feet high (definitely a Charlie Brown tree). When Brent came home it was dark outside and I took him to the tree. He had to dig down a foot or so to get to the base of the tree. It was small enough that loppers did the trick. We put the tree in the garage so the branches could shed their snow, then brought it into the house. We discovered that if your tree is small enough, you don't need a tree stand - a pot with soil works great.

We set the tree on a table and realized that the tree was bigger than it originally appeared. It's actually over three feet tall. It was a rather sparse tree, until we hung virtually all of Anne's ornaments on it. The tree would sag to the right, then the left, then the front (depending on where we hung the last ornament). The tree and the house look quite festive.