The boys all came home for a quick weekend after Thanksgiving to do our traditional Christmas tree hunting. They brought their girlfriends and wanted to show them how this event takes place.
We live in the country with ample choices for tree selections. One just needs to hit the forest service to buy a tree permit at the cost of $10 and then head up the mountain and choose your tree. It is a fun day of playing around. There is usually snow up there which creates even more fun. It is always nice when the trees are not covered in it because I have a very open, tall ceiling and need a large tree. Trees with a lot of frozen snow on them are very heavy and a pain in the a** to haul out of the cutting location. However, a lot of snow is nice to play in. So you take the good with the bad and never know what you are going to end up in each year until you are there. It’s fun, it’s tradition and it’s memories.
This was actually the first year in quite a while where all three boys were home for this event. I usually have one and often two but to have all three was nice. We were just missing my daughter. But I get her for Christmas so that’ll have to do.
Our tradition is to head to the top of the summit first and play around a bit, then figure out where we want to hunt. There was not much snow this year. At least on the one side. But regardless, the mountains and valleys make for beautiful scenery.
And where there is snow, there’s snow skates, and falling down, and back flips. Didn’t I say we have fun?
So back on down the mountain to find the right place. After trudging through the snow and running into some neighbors (which isn’t hard to do in this small valley), we found them. The perfect trees. Son #2 found his and grandson #1 got to learn to use the chainsaw to cut it down.
I recently purchased a DeWalt 20 volt chainsaw which is what we used this day. I love it. We usually use a hand saw to cut our Christmas trees down. I would never let them bring a gas powered chainsaw. I thought that would be cheating. But I figured we would try this out. It’s quiet, small and actually perfect. Worked like a charm.
Then he got to cut his own tree down with the help of Uncle Ben. I think he was proud of himself that day.
Okay, 2 down, 1 to go. Finding my tree is always a little more difficult. I need it tall – 18-20 ft. I need it narrow because it works better. I need a silver tip because I like them best. So the hunt was on. Yay, I found one! Son #1 cut it down for me.
Here’s our tree haul. All three waiting to be loaded up. Spent the next hour or so playing in the snow again and chitchatting with those neighbors I mentioned earlier. They were doing a bit of skeet shooting.
Heading back down the mountain we decided to stop at a local restaurant which opened recently. The boys wanted a chance to check it out. We went in and had some pizza and drinks. It was nice to sit and warm up a bit. This restaurant used to be the drug store and ice cream parlor when the kids grew up. It sat empty for a while and took on some major changes to become Denny Bar. The drinks are delicious, the atmosphere is fabulous and the food is amazing. What more can you ask for. Oh and the company was wonderful.
Home we went to make some turkey soup and clam chowder. Delicious!. Nothing better than hot homemade turkey soup made with the Thanksgiving turkey carcass. And of course, when the boys are around, the Legos are out.
A perfect end to a perfect day. The next day the tree went up.
Do you cut down your own Christmas tree? Do you go to the woods or to the local tree farm? We’ve done both but since living here, the only tree farms are the woods.