One of the best things about living in a rural area is our annual Christmas tree hunt...(why is it that the first 10 perfect trees we find are all spruce, that smell like cat pee when they warm up in the house?) But perseverance paid off today, and we got lots of exercise following deer and moose trails which eventually led us to the loveliest fir tree. And we got to use the great wooden tobogan that we scored for a dollar at a last summer's yard sale.Finding a tree in the woods brings back memory pictures of trudging along with my mum, dad, and older brother, getting tired and wondering why they were all such perfectionists, (I liked the scraggly ones) but I wouldnt have missed it for anything.
My own kids now in their 20's must have similar warm memories of their dad hooking up the Belgian team and going by sleigh to the deep woods for a campfire and christmas tree search. The kids are grown now and on their own and will adopt their own traditions, but these two old fogeys will hold to the natural tree tradition as long as one of us can wield a bucksaw.
