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| Oh, our cedar tree |
Christmastree..Christmastree….when will we cut down our
Christmas tree? That question hung in the air until Mom
nudged Dad enough to take care of that yearly tradition.
Finally, we climbed up
into the bed of the 1946 Ford truck and huddled together in frozen air on
frozen metal, and smiled at the very thought of the tree. THE Tree that would be ours, stood on a
white hill watching and waiting for us. Our Tree we exhaled through icy fogged air.
Powdery, fresh snow stays
in my mind even now: stepping and then sinking up to our knees, laughing. Eagerness kept us warm as we raced ahead of
Dad, who strode easily with the ax on his shoulder. This
one?...How about this one?...No! Look,
there is one!
Somehow the perfect tree was always found and Dad cut it down. Hoisting it up on his shoulder, we carried
the starry top, never knowing just how heavy the tree truly was.
Scent of cedar filled the
bed of the truck where the tree barely fit, with us tucked around and through it. We inhaled it cedar air down to our home,
laughing all the way.
I don't think we ever got to go cut our own. We just went to a tree lot.
ReplyDeleteWe cut down the tree until we were in college, I think. After that, I don't remember the tradition.
DeleteLovely story. We did the tree cutting thing a couple of times...usually a spruce.
ReplyDeleteThe cedar was Dad's favorite. We may have had some firs, but bot that I can remember.
DeleteSo many wonderful memories, and now we have an artificial one, I really should put my foot down and buy a real one next year, regardless... !!
ReplyDeleteWe have purchased wreathes in the past from our neice and her H.S. clubs. It hung on the door, roasting in California sun.
DeleteWe always went to a tree lot, but had plenty of trees in the backyard
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of trees? No fir tree willing to sacrifice itself for the Hatt Christmas?
DeleteI never had this experience. Well, not really. In the tropics we had inkberries trees and century plant blossoms to go cut down.
ReplyDeleteI imagine they were beautiful! Early settlers here used manzanita bushes or some sort of cactus.
DeleteThe tree always signals the start of the season for us
ReplyDeleteMy husband has moved some furniture around, so we will put up our tree very soon.
DeleteThere is a cedar tree on the way into my physical therapy building. I stop and smell it twice a week. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteThen you know exactly the scent!
DeleteWe cut our trees too. And that scent... oh the scent.
ReplyDeleteIt is all so hard to describe the scent of trees...words never seem adequate.
DeleteI know the cedar scent, i have cedarwood 'mothballs' in my drawers, when the scent fades I just give them a light sanding to bring it back. Keeps the moths away nicely.
DeleteWhat a delightful Christmas- y post!
ReplyDeleteMemories are so strong, even now.
DeleteWe mostly do plastic trees here in Aus, at least, everyone I know has a plastic tree. I remember Decembers past when "trees" were available from supermarket parking lots and people would buy them to have a real tree, but they weren't trees at all, simply branches cut from a real tree and sold, then every January there would be those same branches dead and dry, left out on the footpath for rubbish collection, sometimes even with tinsel still attached.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I prefer a plastic tree, some of them look close enough to real, and they can be packed away to use again and again.
It's different in your snowy country though, a tree has a better chance of surviving the whole holiday season and I imagine the smell would be heavenly enough to offset the falling leaves. But what do you do with it after?
In previous years, I went to Christmas tree lots where the trimmings were in a trash bin. I grabbed a few and made some sort of wreath. I am sure it could have looked better.
DeleteThe whole house smells good when a new tree comes in. I love that smell!!
ReplyDeleteIt does fill the house with fir tree goodness.
Delete