As a couple, Bill and I have never gone out and cut down a Christmas tree. For several years, we purchased our Christmas tree from a nursery, but eventually started buying them from our local volunteer fire department. I reasoned that the fire department would surely sell the freshest-cut trees in town. Looking back, I’m sad that our sons didn’t get to experience Christmas tree “shopping” in a forest like I did as a child. As I reminisce about my childhood experience, I’ll share those memories with my sons and readers with a post that I first shared last year…
As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up on a dairy farm. The wooded acreage was mostly made up of deciduous trees, but there were evergreens sprinkled throughout. Every year, my dad took my brother and me with him to find the perfect Christmas tree. Sometimes my mom came with us, but usually she stayed home and had hot chocolate waiting for us upon our return. We didn’t have a sign to follow, but my dad knew every nook and cranny of his farm, and he always knew which direction to head to find the best pine tree.
Bundled up in my heavy winter coat, mittens, hat, and cowgirl boots; I would pick out a twenty foot tall tree and then pout when Dad said that it was too big. I was convinced that our ceiling was way taller than the trees that Dad was trying to direct me toward. I wanted a tree that touched our ten-foot-tall ceiling, and even though every single year Dad had to cut some of the tree off so it would fit, I was convinced that the tree was tiny… until we got it in the house.
Pines native to our family farm are the Eastern White, Shortleaf, Pit, Virginia, Pond, and Table Mountain. I thought I remembered Dad calling the pines on our farm, black pines, but I just learned that they are only native to coastal areas of Japan, so it’s safe to say that’s not what we cut down.
As soon as we got the tree home, Dad would measure the tree and saw off some of the trunk so it would fit in our house. Next he would whittle the trunk down so that it fit in the old cast iron wagon wheel he used for the Christmas tree stand. It was very heavy and was the perfect weight to keep the tree from floating and falling over in it’s tub of water. A big red tub that Mom used for gardening during the summer became the lifeline to our tree when it was filled with water, and kept full during the week the tree was up. Our tree was not going to dry out!
Dad cutting the tree trunk to fit the wagon wheel stand (Dec 1976)
Dad would save the extra branches that he cut off the bottom of the tree for my mom to use to decorate the mantel, making our house smell like a pine forest!
Once the tree was up, Dad strung the big old fashioned lights so we could decorate it (only they weren’t old fashioned at the time). We were only allowed to have the lights on for a half-hour or so at a time because the bulbs got very hot, and I hated having to turn the lights off when our time was up.
Of course my brother and I had a blast decorating the tree with our mom. Like all children of that era, putting on the icicles (tinsel) was our favorite part! We would start out carefully placing each individual strand on one at a time, but as we got bored with the process, we would start tossing handfuls at a time leaving glittery clumps randomly placed on the tree.
We never had our tree up for more than about a week because my parents were concerned about the fire hazard, and quite honestly, I think that was the norm back then. One year our tree came down a little early thanks to me. When I was in first grade, I had the mumps during my Christmas break. While checking out my favorite little elf decoration, I managed to pull the whole tree over on top of myself! Since I had the mumps, and therefore swollen jaws, my dad said that I looked like a chipmunk crawling out from under a tree in the forest!
Infamous Elves on Circa 1980 Purchased Tree
My grandmother always had white pine Christmas trees since she had a grove of them that my uncles had planted as part of an FFA (Future Farmers of America) project, and she had a nice little selection to choose from. I always loved how soft the leaves on the white pines felt when you brushed up against them, and how wonderful the tree smelled when you walked into Grandmother’s living room. In addition to the decorations, my Grandmother taped envelopes filled with money onto the tree for each of her grandchildren. There were 17 envelopes, each with a twenty dollar bill in it. On Christmas night we could take down our envelope. My brother’s was always closest to the top since he was the oldest and the tallest.
My Papaw always cut down cedars for his Christmas tree because he had a lot of them growing on his farm. They were extremely fragrant, but I didn’t think they were very pretty; and to a little girl, beauty is everything!
By the time I went off to college, my parents had started buying trees from a lot in town. For a few years they bought live trees with root balls to plant in their yard after Christmas. One of those trees is still thriving in their yard and is about 50-feet tall.
Eventually my parents purchased an artificial tree simply for the convenience. No matter the tree, it always brings back a wealth of memories whenever I see the tree decorated with all of my favorite childhood decorations standing in my parents’ home when I return for Christmas…
- Questions:
- What are your earliest memories about helping your family pick out a Christmas tree?
- Did you buy your tree on a lot or go cut it down at a tree farm?
- Was hot chocolate a part of your day?
Gosh, I haven’t thought about icicles in years! That was tedious work! We made snow to put on the branches. I have no idea what ingredients were in the snow…potatoes maybe? I just remember my mother used her “Mix Master” to make it. What a mess! I still have old ornaments with snow stuck to them.
HoHo Runs recently posted…They Say It’s My Birthday…
On our drive to my mom’s house on Friday evening, we stopped at a gas station and they had a Christmas tree with icicles on it! It was pretty cool to see!
Was the fake snow made out of powdered laundry detergent? I think my mom used to make it for her first grade students to use on their Christmas arts projects.
Merry Christmas!
We lived on 5 acres of land and we would go into the woods and cut ours down!!
Sue @ This Mama Runs for Cupcakes recently posted…12 Days of Christmas Giveaway: Day 11–Ultimate Direction
I’m sure you have plenty of fond Christmas tree “shopping” memories, too!
Merry Christmas!
i love this story! i’ve never gone and cut down a tree but i do get a real tree every year. i think going to cut one down would be a fun tradition to do with kids!
Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC recently posted…How to Run Back to Back Marathons
I’m not sure why we didn’t take our kids to a tree farm to cut down a Christmas tree at least once… If I had it to do over, I definitely would!
I still love how you would pick out a 20 foot tree 🙂 I bet a lot of kids do that, and are convinced it will fit. Using the cast iron wheel as a tree stand is so neat, too!
Meagan recently posted…Runners Tell All: 2014 Reflections & 2015 Goals
When you’re three feet tall, all trees look huge, and therefore hard to distinguish between the different sizes. 🙂
Wow icicles, I completely forgot about them! Thanks for sharing your story Deb – it was a nice read.
Jennifer recently posted…Charleston Half Training – 12/15-12/21 -Week 7
I would have guessed that icicles were “before your time,” Jenny! 🙂
I so enjoyed this walk down memory lane! The first year we were married, my husband and I cut down our own tree. The problem was that our saw was probably older than us, and Matt worked up quite a sweat trying to cut the tree down. Meanwhile, the farm was getting ready to close and I was afraid we’d get lost in the dark. That was our one and only experience cutting down a tree. 🙂
Dana recently posted…Beyonce and Big Wheels
I can’t imagine getting lost on someone elses farm in the dark! Yikes!
What a beautiful post for the season! We used to buy our tree at a little church up the street from our house when I was growing up. I remember taking it very seriously. Since being out of school, though, I’ve always had a cat, so have leaned towards fake trees — first a three-footer that stood on a table in my apartment, and then a seven-foot tree that Jim and I bought the first year we were married. It’s still going strong, and it’s kind of fun pulling that thing out the day after Thanksgiving each year. Our Christmas stuff is definitely down by January, though, to make way for our daughter’s birthday on the 5th. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Anne recently posted…What a Fall!
As I see pictures of your and my friend Beth’s mischievous cats’ pictures on Facebook, I realize how lucky Bill and I were that our cats never climbed our Christmas trees. Teddy and Spot must have been exceptionally boring cats! We’ve had a fake tree ever since our real tree’s stand broke, and water poured through the family room floor and the basement ceiling.
Merry Christmas, to you and your family, too!
[…] My earliest Christmas memories start with my brother and me helping my dad find the perfect Christmas tree. For this little wide-eyed girl, it was one of my favorite days of the year. A day that would start […]