Weekend of Trees

 Last weekend, the theme for DH seemed to be cutting down trees.  On Saturday, he decided it was time (more like he had finally gotten enough more pressing tasks crossed off his to do list) to cut down two standing dead trees in the north fence line.  The removal of those trees had actually been originally slated for last winter, but it wasn't urgent and he never got to them.  

Now, however, it still wasn't urgent, except for the fact that he didn't get a whole lot of wood split and stacked near the boiler for this winter's heating.  Since those trees had been dead going on two years they were nice and cured now and could be put into the wood boiler for heat.  So, he grabbed his chainsaw and the tractor and made short work of cutting down those trees and hauling them up to the vicinity of the wood boiler while I was cleaning stalls.

Some of the larger pieces will need to be split before he can fit them through the door of the wood boiler, but most of the wood just needed to be cut to length, which he did later that day.

The next day after lunch, we headed out despite the cold snowy weather and brutal wind, to a local tree farm owned by a family we know and cut down a small spruce to use for our Christmas tree.  It was kind of a now or never thing, as it was the last day this tree farm was going to be open for the season (same with several other tree farms in a 30 mile radius of this little place here), and we knew we didn't want to get a pre-cut and wrapped-tightly-before-shipping to a box store/commercial tree lot tree.  

Buying a tree this year was something that actually took a conscious decision and a bit of discussion between the two of us.  Last year, DH cut a 'wild' one from the family cabin up north near where Mother-in-Law lives.  It was 'free' if you didn't count the cost of gas to drive there and back, which he didn't since he'd been planning to go visit his mom anyway.  The two years before that, we'd cut a spruce each year from a clump of three we'd planted in the early 2000s that needed thinning now that they were 10-ish feet tall.  So, free Christmas tree those two years also.  The thought of paying $70 or more for a tree this year kinda stuck in our throats.

What we both agreed we weren't ready to do, was have a fake tree.  In terms of financials, it made sense to invest in an artificial tree now that we'd use for at least ten years.  It definitely would be cheaper than paying year after year after year for a live one.  In terms of personal aesthetics though, neither of us want an artificial tree.  We agreed we'd rather forego one in the house and just put lights and ornaments on one of the spruces lining the backyard than have a fake tree.

Anyway, we went to the tree farm owned by a family we know (where DS2 had spent a couple of days one summer in high school planting trees with his good friend and soccer teammate).  I told them were looking for a "not tall, not bushy tree that we can fit 20 people into the same room as" for our Christmas tree.  The patriarch of the family pointed us to a couple specific plots where the remaining trees had some deer damage and told us to pick out any one of those and cut it off as high up as we needed in order to make it the height we wanted.

I love that they don't try to upsell us a tree that we will take home and need to cut several feet off plus prune the branches back to make it skinny enough to fit a corner of my living room.  They immediately offered trees that would be overlooked by the person with the "must be magazine perfect" mindset, which was a win for us both.  They made a little cash off a tree that would otherwise be considered undesirable (and therefore unsaleable)  by most, and we got to take home a tree that was only as tall as we needed.

At home, DH popped it into our Christmas tree stand, then we set it on top of a wooden folding table we have, and I decorated it.  Festive, yet still lots of room for presents underneath; plus, unless you count the toybox that normally sits in that corner, no furniture needed to be moved in order to make room for the tree.  Exactly what we'd been looking for in our Christmas tree.