Our first Tree

Sunday morning, we decided that we would go cut down our Christmas tree.  Our first tree together as a family.  Jason was so excited and i loved that.  I love that we got our tree early.  We cut down our tree at a farm just moments away from our home.  We thought it would look beautiful in our living room.  We paid ten dollars, as the tree farm was trying to thin out the 'big trees'.  It stands nine feet tall, and i believe almost nine feet around.  Jason cut it down, we carried it to the truck & squeezed it in through the front door.  Needles everywhere....beautiful pine needles.  We struggled to get it in the stand.  It was heavy & large.  Finally, it stood tall.  We stood there, laughing, as it was much wider than we were anticipating.  But it was perfect.  Jason swept up the living room & i re-arranged the furniture to make room for this new addition.  Jason brought up our Christmas boxes and i started un-winding the lights.  Jason brought the step ladder up and put the star on the top.  He put up the top half of lights, i put up the bottom.  He swept again and gave the tree water.  I began decorating, while he and charlie laid on the floor and watched.  We had bluegrass music playing.  Jason's foot tapping to the beat on the floor.  Me, humming.  We had corn chowder for dinner & dimmed the lights to fully enjoy the tree.  We watched northern exposure and fell asleep on the couch.  Over the next week, i sewed a tree skirt for the tree.  It was a wonderful way to begin our first Christmas in our new home. 

I just finished the book: "we took to the woods" by Louise Dickinson Rich.  I deeply enjoyed reading this, as the way she portrayed her life was frank, poetic and to the point.  She spoke of the hardships, the beauty and the meaningfulness of living close to the land.
:: "It adds up to more than that.  All ordinary people like us, everywhere, are trying to find the same things.  It makes no difference whether they are New Englanders or Texans or Malayans or Finns.  They all want to be left alone to conduct their own private search for a personal peace, a reasonable security, a little love, a chance to attain happiness through achievement.  It isn't much to want; but i never came anywhere near to getting most of those things until we took to the woods."