Out of the forests, tree farms, home improvement stores or closets and into your house.  We have an evergreen conifer to decorate.

Or do you?  If not, you will soon.  And if you’re not the kind that keeps a Christmas tree in your house, chances are you know someone who does.  Or they know someone.

With just 24 days left until Christmas, the race has begun.  Deck those halls.  Deck the outside of your house.  Deck the lawn.  Deck the kitchen.  And whatever you do, don’t forget to deck the tree.

And while there’s plenty of shopping to do (we’ll get to that another day), we’ll focus on the tree for today.  For me, getting the tree has been a tradition that goes all the way back to my childhood.  And even before that, the tradition of decorating trees has been around for hundreds of years.  Ever since the pagan Europeans practiced tree worship long ago.  But having survived the conversion to Christianity, the trees were then used to scare away the devil.

Getting back to my tradition, I have always enjoyed getting a tree as a kid.  For a number of years, I can remember going to Beards Lakeview Farm with my brother, younger sister and parents.  We would get out and begin searching for the perfect tree.

The search would pretty much go like this.  One of us would find what we think to be the perfect tree, until a flaw is pointed out in it.  A spot may be bare, or it might be too small or too tall.  This would continue on and on for several trees.

And finally, by some miraculous event, we come across the perfect tree. At that point, the tree is ready to be cut down, right?  Wrong.  It’s picture time.  Stand in front of the tree in the freezing cold and get your picture taken, so that grandma and grandpa could see the tree that you got this year.  At the age that I was at back then, it didn’t matter.  There was snow everywhere and I was standing in front of the tree that would go in our living room.  I loved it.

For the first few years, mom and dad dragged the tree to the needle shaker and wrapper.  But when me and my brother were old enough, dad made us drag the tree all the way back to get de-needled and wrapped up in twine ropes for the truck.  As the years went by, it got easier and easier to do.

Looking at this year, it was quite easy to carry the tree back.  But like all the other years before, it wasn’t easy to find.  There were several candidates, but the winner wasn’t decided until we got to the edge of the property.  It was the last area of Christmas trees that Beard’s had to offer.  A lot filled with Frasers. Most of them had a defect.  Too short.  A bare spot.  And any tree that was perfect was not for sale.

But we did it.  The tree was cut down and I went home.

And if you’ve been following the 12 Pains of Christmas, I got the first thing done.

As for the other eleven, they will all come in due time.  Well actually nine, since I don’t drink or have any children to worry about.

 

Muse:  Got your tree?

Yes.  I was just about to end this, actually.

Muse:  Well, before you do, I have some good news.  I found the perfect Christmas tree!

Nice.  Your tree looks just like ours do in the real world.

Muse:  I know.  Christmas has gotten really popular among me and the Intangibles.

So did you cut it down?

Muse:  Of course I did!  And it’s all decorated too.

Well, that was fast!  That still needs to happen with my tree.  I will definitely want to help with that.

Muse:  Well, being Intangible does have its advantages.  Plus, I want to get some reading done.  Now you can end it.  Farewell!

 

*sigh*  Intangibles always get the best trees.  Well, I guess that makes sense since they’re all imaginary.

The high today is going to be 36 degrees and the silver lining was getting the Christmas tree.

To all of you who love the tradition of keeping a Christmas tree in your house,  I hope that you all have a fantastic day.

 

Muse:  The star on this tree is so beautiful.  To be perfectly honest, I could stare at this for hours….