Do you have your Christmas tree up yet? Or are you skipping a tree this year because they cost hundreds and thousands of dollars? Nothing says it’s the holidays like the fresh smell of coniferous Christmas scents wafting through the house. And the fresh feeling of pine needles sticking through your socks and into your flesh. We like the real, live, sap-dripping Christmas trees.
In years past, we’ve cut down trees at a farm and we’ve even cut the top six feet off our own pine trees in the yard a few times. But this year would be different. There are no tree farms within an hour of us and I really like the look of the top of the pine tree in my front yard so I can’t use it.
The kids usually start asking for a tree somewhere mid-November. We’ve also got a couple birthdays near the end of November. Past precedent has been to have a Christmas tree set up before the birthdays. I was picking up some groceries at No Frills the other day for my patient wife and noticed a lovely line of wrapped up festive bushes leaning against the outside wall as I walked in. I was tempted to get one. They were so easy to attain! No saw needed! No tree-climbing necessary! No dragging a tree for miles through the snow! I convinced myself it was the right thing to do.
But how do you choose a tree that’s wrapped up with 3 kilometers of twine? The voices of my 10 kids echoed in my head, “Get the biggest one!”. It was a total gamble what the branches would look like when we unwrapped it but I could easily see the tallest one. I loaded it in the van and heard shouts of joy as I got home and carried it into the house. “Dad got a tree! Can we decorate it? Where’s the decorations? Where’s the tree stand? Someone get the decorations!”
Good thing I got the tallest one because they always get taller when you bring them in the house. Between the top and bottom trimming, I cut off about two feet of height so we’d have room to put the angel on top. Once it was in the stand we cut off all those kilometers of twine. All the beautiful branches flung out and dropped down in a beautiful conical form…or something like that. They mostly stayed up until the weight of 30,000 decorations began to pull them down. Since the three to eight-year-old kids are most excited about decorating the tree, 90% of the decorations end up on the bottom 50% of the tree. But that’s fine with me.
We got the tree. We decorated the tree. Memories were made. And I only had to spin the tree about 6 times until my beautiful wife could see the most beautiful side of the tree. Whether your tree is real or artificial, enjoy these moments with your kids. Time flies! Make every moment count! Even the tree-trimming ones.
Jason Weening decorates trees with his 10 kids and one patient wife. If you need a Christmas gift for your 8-12-year-old, check out his adventure book for kids at HEYDADS.ca.