Speaking of traditions - the Christmas Tree is one tradition that still remains popular after many centuries. According to Wikipedia the earliest accounts of decorating a tree at Christmas was recorded in Germany in the 16th century.
The early "Christmas" trees were set up in public places such as churches and decorated with apples, nuts and dates for the children to collect on Christmas Day. Later they started to appear in homes of upper-class families, where they were often adorned with candles. The evergreen has always been the favoured tree, and it is this variety that our modern artificial trees have replaced.
When I was a child we used to hop in the car and travel an hour or so to a forest area where families could cut their own trees. We made a day of it, and I remember it as being a fun time for our parents and of course for us children.
My husband and I have had a few real trees over the years, but mostly we have put up an artificial tree. We decided this year to splurge a bit and get a real tree for a change; so on Wednesday evening Gary, Jon and I piled into the van, and went on the hunt for the perfect tree.
Our first stop was at the Boy Scouts tree lot. It was a huge lot with quite a few trees but much to Gary and Jon's dismay, all the trees were bundled in net, making it difficult to see the complete tree.
I was adamant that the tree not be too fat. We are short on space in our home, and the spot I have decided to put the tree is in an area where we have to constantly be walking through. So tall and skinny was my request. This lot couldn't satisfy that request, so back in the car we went, and on the the next tree lot.
The second lot is where we have always purchased our real trees.... and... all the trees were sitting upright in snowbanks... just what the tree shoppers hoped for!
Up and down the isles we walked. I forgot to mention that the temperatures that evening were somewhere in the -25 range with the windchill. I was getting cold and impatient to be home with a hot cup of tea in my hand, and my two fellows were perusing the 12 ft trees in the back row!
Where would they be without me?...... Back to the front row with a few stomps of Mom's heavy boots, and within minutes we found our perfect tree.
Good thing too, because my hands were numb and my pocketbook was about to be emptied.
We paid the fellow, loaded our tree and set off for home well pleased with our choice.
And we took some pictures - imagine that!
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| A lovely choice, indeed! |
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| A frozen me, waiting to load the tree into the van. |
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