We set off this morning for our favorite tree farm to find that perfect tree for our holiday celebration. This tree farm has been our destination for 19 Christmases now! I love to hang back and watch the boys as they weave in and out among the trees, looking for straight trunks and well-rounded branches. They love walking to the garage/barn with me to greet our friend Bruce who kindly tells them each how they've grown and remembers what they told him last year. They find our family photograph amidst the hundreds of other family photographs on the boards around the woodstove. As they hung their cherished ornaments on its lit branches tonight, I marveled at the how they each appreciate these traditions. Tomorrow night I will start reading some of our favorite tree and holiday stories during and after dinner:
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
The Race of the Birkebeiners by Lise Lunge-Larsen
and, their all-time favorite
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
How do you find just the right tree for you?
Hi, Library Jewel! What a great family tradition you have. When we lived on 20 acres in northern Minnesota, my husband and I would go out into our woods and find a Charlie Brown Christmas tree that was not likely to make it because it was stunted and overshadowed by bigger trees. We'd cut it down, bring it inside, and decorate it. Now that we are in northern California, we have a five-foot potted juniper that we bought from a nursery two years ago with the intention of letting it be our Christmas tree year after year. It's now time to put the tiniest white lights on its delicate branches and let it light up our tiny backyard.
ReplyDeletethis is the time for tree gathering, isn't it? ours is still sitting on the porch waiting to come into the house.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a living tree that you decorate every year, Laurie! I can imagine it bejeweled with tiny lights.
ReplyDeleteDo you go somewhere to cut your tree, Brattcat?
What great traditions you have Library Jewel and Laurie!
ReplyDeleteI haven't had a Christmas tree in many years...but someday it will feel right to have one again.
And back when I was a teacher, I loved reading THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT to my fourth graders every year! The book has one of the funniest openings in all of children's literature, and it always grabbed my especially challenging students!
I hope you will come with us to cut a tree when you are ready again, David. It feels like such a magical thing to do!
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