The Annual Tree Hunt

The past several years we have made the annual trip out to the Kananaskis to go collect a Christmas tree for our home. We actually have a perfectly fine artificial tree that we bought the first year we were married but Dave made the suggestion to go cut one down about five years ago and we have never looked back. This annual even is a bit more regulated then you might assume. A permit is required that you have to purchase before hand and there are a bunch of rules about where and how big and what kind etc. Once you get past all that though the experience is always a good time. 

Selecting the tree is always the fun part but a bit of a challenge too. You see when you go to a lot you don't really appreciate that those trees were pruned and shaped and grown just right for a Christmas tree. Pine trees you quickly find don't grow naturally like that. Here is the tree that we found after a bit of walking. It was a spruce amongst a sea of pines. It looked to be a re-planted area that had been cleared or burned, it was tough to tell, but this tree survived all that for just this day.

A bonus of the new house is that the main room has a vaulted ceiling, which we had never had in the past. So we were able to choose a tree that was taller than any we had cut down in the past. Of course once you cut the tree down you have to make it back to the car with the tree. This is when you realize how far from the car you had walked to find it, and how heavy a big tree really is, and maybe you should have taken that smaller tree closer to the car, and man am I out of shape... Usually this task is much easier with a sled and some snow, but as you can see we have had a remarkably warm winter this far and so no snow.

Once you get it back to to car and tied on it's all forgotten. Note the matching scarfs in this family photo, a gift last Christmas from D and R. After we got it home and all set up we love it. I will be the first to admit that if we wanted a good looking tree the forest is not the place to find it. But that isn't why we go. It's a day with the family spent out in the snow (dirt) looking for that "perfect" tree to bring home to decorate for the season. I think most people like Christmas time and for us this makes it even more special.