#32 - Cutting Our Own Christmas Tree

When I was a kid, my sister and I always wanted a real Christmas tree. My dad was a master of "stuck in his ways," and he insisted a real Christmas tree was a fire danger. Needless to say, we never got one.  As soon as I was out on my own, you can bet that I had a real Christmas tree. Craig and I got real trees for about the first decade of our marriage. However, after we had trees get peed on by our dog, had a tree fall over in the middle of the night and had many tilting trees tied up with fishing line, the mystique of real trees wore off and we returned to an artificial tree.

Yet, I always felt I had missed out by never having cut down our own tree.  For heaven's sake, we are surrounded by mountains and forests, so it just seemed that cutting down our own tree was what a true Coloradan would do.  Still, every year we had a reason for not doing it--schedule conflicts, bad weather or the "we'll do it next year" excuse.

No more putting it off!  This was the perfect year to add this experience to my treasure trove of life experiences.  Early this morning we piled into the truck and headed into the Pike National Forest in Woodland Park, CO.  We bought our $10 permit and then headed up the windy, mountain road. 

If you have ever seen a "cut your own" Christmas tree, you know they tend to be of the Charlie Brown style. We warned our kids that the tree would not look anything like our full, perfectly proportioned artificial tree.  Several miles into the forest, we pulled off the road, hopped out of the truck and started down a ridge on our quest.  All the way up to Woodland Park we had commented on how it just didn't seem like the Christmas season because we had received so little snow.  Fortunately, there was a trace of snow in the valley we hiked, so the surroundings made it seem more like Christmas tree season. It actually was perfect.  Had the mountains received their typical couple feet of snow by now, our hike would have been much more challenging.

Searching for the right tree is sort of like a scavenger hunt.  At first you think you'll never find what you're looking for.  But, after hiking less than a half mile down into the valley, we ran across several viable options. We all agreed on the same tree. It was over 6 feet tall and quite wide.  We set to sawing it down, and we were pleased at how easily that task was accomplished.    Craig was our hero and carried the tree all the way back up the hill and to the truck.  We tossed it in the back of truck and headed home to decorate it.

We are all pleased with the final result. It is obvious that our tree was not purchased from a tree lot, yet it is full enough that we'll all happy with it.  We all enjoyed our adventure today, and we will certainly consider making it a family tradition. If you've never cut your own, tree, I would highly recommend it!