the hunt for a Christmas tree

Yesterday afternoon we took to the roads in the big steel sleigh called our Uplander and went in search of our Christmas tree. There were no trucks to drive under or rednecks or in fact snow on the ground but in true Griswold style we went to a Christmas tree farm and walked across its acres to find our tree.

We engaged in singing “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer” led by the girls and drove far enough down a dirt road that Chloe asked if we were lost. There were thousands of Christmas trees all around us.

We found our tree in a shaft of light – all 7.5 foot gorgeousness of it – and Paul took a saw and cut it down.

We then paid a whole $33 for it (bargain!) and drove it home.

Whilst it was resting in its shiny snow stand (from Rona) we indulged in a cup of tea and mince pie (as made by Paul) and a quick peruse of the new issue of Canadian House and Home.

Whilst the girls decorated their pink tree at the top of the stairs from scratch – lights and all without any supervision we put the tree lights on. Once they were on it was a free for all with other decorations. I did the top half of the tree and the girls did the bottom.

The end result was a tree that was staggeringly beautiful, with twinkling ($50 yard sale for 1000 lights) lights on it and decorations from all over the world and our memories.

There were decorations that have been made by the girls, bought in Key West, Toronto, Peggys Cove, came as presents, St Augustine and Niagara Falls. There were decorations from my very first tree as an adult in my own home, many years ago. It’s a mishmash of colours and full of love and is quite frankly the best tree that we have ever had.