{Adventure Story: The Perfect Tree}

In my house growing up we always had a “fake” Christmas tree. It’s all I knew and it was perfect.  There’s something very nostalgic for me now when we put our “fake” tree together each year.  Hunting for the correctly color coded branch and fluffing them up. It’s just the way it was always done.

I do have a little bit of experience with REAL Christmas trees, as well. And I remember it being magical. Every other Christmas we would trek half way across the country to my uncle’s family farm in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. It was the perfect Christmas setting. Quiet farmhouse on the side of a mountain covered in snow. The whole family would hike up the side of said mountain to hunt for the perfect tree. My uncle would cut it down, we would all cheer, grandma would say something silly and we’d haul it back down the mountain.

Either way you do it, real or fake, there’s some special Christmas magic and memories engrained in your experience.

I recently had the opportunity to join the M family on their hunt for the perfect tree. Again, it was the perfectly magical Christmas setting. Quiet farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. This time surrounded by rolling Kansas hills and horses. Yep, it’s realy life folks. Gorgeous.

I met them at their beautiful home and went for a ride around the corner to the local Christmas Tree Farm. I was immediately struck at how special this moment was.  Being there for someone’s tradition. A family’s memories. It’s truly an honor.

The weather was fabulous. Sunny and 60s, you’d never know it was time to hunt for a Christmas tree. Except for the fact that I was standing in a giant field of Christmas trees surrounded by people in red Santa hats with festive music quietly playing.

I think a Christmas tree farm might be the ultimate kid play ground. These boys had the time of their lives running through the trees, jumping off stumps and chasing each other with left behind branches.

It didn’t seem like there was any specific science to finding the right tree. It was a lot of wandering and circling back until, there it was. Perfectly plump with just the right amount of point on top.

Next was a part of the process I had no clue about. In my experience this is where grandma says something silly and we drag the tree down the mountain. I guess in civilized businesses this is not how it’s done. The tree man {I say man loosely; the tree teenager} takes your tree to the tractor, the tractor takes your tree to the shop, the shop does some magical cuts and swirls and THEN you get to put it on your car and drive it home.

So, while we were waiting for all that business to happen there was some tractor riding, some truck snuggling and some tree farm baseball to be had. THEN it was finally time to drag it home.

Back at their magically beautiful farmhouse the Christmas traditions continued with storytime, candy canes and gingerbread houses. This is such an amazing time of year. Traditions run deep and although all of ours may be different, they’re each just as special. I’m grateful to be able to preserve these memories for families. It warms my to heart think about these boys looking back at these images in 10, 15, 20 years and saying “oh! I remember that day!”

Thank you, M Family, for allowing me to follow you on your family adventure!