Our tradition of harvesting our own tree from the property started when the family budget didn’t permit the luxury of visiting the local tree farm. Despite a mostly balanced budget these days, our home grown tree tradition continues. On Sunday, Hannah and I donned Muck boots and headed out into the woods.

I had my eye on a nice looking tree and pointed it out to Hannah. As usual, my choice was: too short, too skinny, lopsided, not full enough, etc. So off we went.

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We finally found this tree (stage right). We marked it, looked some more, but ultimately returned to claim our prize.

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It’s a nice looking tree – full and symmetrical. And then Hannah moved into place to cut it down.

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Uhhhh, so it might be a little tall. It didn’t look so big when we were standing at the top of the ravine.

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Armed with a saw about as sharp as a butter knife, Hannah cut the monster down.

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After trying to pull it up the hill and out of a field loaded with saplings that clung to our prize like Velcro, Hannah cut two more feet off the bottom hoping it would be easier to handle. We finally managed to flip it around and carry it out butt first trying to follow the path of least resistance.

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When it didn’t fit under the porch without the top bending over, we opted to wait for Dad and his chainsaw. Paul took yet another 18 inches off the bottom and snipped the top. All this and we still left a green scrape across the ceiling when we fitted the tree into the stand.

I think it’s fair to say that this year our eyes were bigger than our living room!

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Past Christmas tree posts:
9 December 2013: No Snow, No Spirit
15 December 2012: Our Free Range, Organic Christmas Tree
4 December 2010: A Downeast Thunder Farm Christmas Tree