Henry and I set out Saturday morning to cut our Christmas tree. Unfortunately, this photo does not capture the field of diamonds that surround our house, but it does capture our cat Holly who likes to hike with us. This time we had to stop and put her back in the house.
We saw lots of animal tracks as we walked down the Rose Walk. I thought these were deer tracks, but Henry wasn’t so sure. A fair amount of activity though.
We left the Rose Walk and set off across the field to our Snow Break. This is a mixed planting of pines, with a few spruce and some balsams. The original planting has been added to occasionally over the years, partly so we can come down and choose our Christmas tree. I must tell you that as a snow break, this long grove of trees has been of great help to the road crew and to us in keeping the drifts on the road manageable.
This balsam is much taller than the trees we usually cut, but it seemed to be the only one that was suitable at all. We cut high, and then we cut down the top a little; our ceiling is only eight feet.
It is a great joy to be able to cut our own tree. It is not always a perfect shape, but we figure that any bare spots just give us lots of scope for the ornaments and lights. The house smells wonderful.
I should say, a great joy! I would LOVE to be able to cut down our own Christmas tree. This was a wonderful post. I have a cat that likes to take walks with me, too. Pete won’t travel very far but it’s always fun to take a short hike with him.
Have a Merry Christmas!
Kate – Merry Christmas to you and Pete – and all those you love.
What fun to go out and cut your own tree. Any tree with treasured ornaments on it is perfect. Your beautiful white christmas is something I always want but it will not be this year I am afraid. It is 38F here today and all the snow and ice is melting. Oh well, the spirit will be the same no matter.
Lisa – It is the spirit that is important – and that we can make no matter the weather – or the time of year.
How wonderful to be able to walk out into the nearby woods and cut down your own Christmas tree! My husband used to do this on a small piece of land he farmed, but the owner gave up on maintaining the trees and they eventually became too overgrown. One year we had a tree that took up 1/4 of our living room!