Jay Gaulard Blog

Our Very First Christmas Tree

December 17, 2006 – 6:58 pm | by gaulardcom

Believe it or not, this is the first year Laura and I actually went out with the intention of bringing back a Christmas tree. I am not sure why we never had one before…probably because we just never got around to it. Well, that all changed today.

I spoke to Paul yesterday and happened to mention today’s agenda (Christmas tree). I said we would probably go to Home Depot or something and just grab one. He said, “No, you less than intelligent, but well intentioned friend. Go to Bell’s Christmas Trees and cut down your own.” Well, I hadn’t thought of actually cutting down our own tree. Somehow, and I do mean somehow, the thought of driving my “kill” home on the roof of my car was a little weird, but I got over it as soon as I pictured myself walking around thousands of pine trees with a saw in my hand.

We woke up nice and early this morning with the goal of beating the crowd up there in Accord. We made it out of the house by 9:30AM and were at the farm a little after 10AM. Like Paul said, there was hot chocolate, a saw and a little sled to drag the tree back to the car with.

The tree farm was better than I expected. You kind of never know what you are going to get up in these parts, but the trees were in great shape and there were plenty of them. The acreage was very clean and the employees very helpful. It was so nice to take our time and stroll around in the great weather (50s) for a while before stumbling across “the one.”

She was a Blue Spruce. She towered over me. She was a beauty and stood about ten feet tall. We thought for a few minutes about how we would fit a ten foot tall tree in the house. I kind of wasn’t listening because my mouth was already watering at the prospect of me putting a picture of me standing next to a ten foot tall tree on my blog. We agreed that a taller tree is better than a shorter one because we could always cut it if we needed to. But, my friends, don’t forget that we have thirteen foot vaulted ceiling in our living room. I cut her down and fastened it to our sled.

Let me give you a small peek into my mind right as soon as I tied it to the sled. “Man, I have about ten puncture wounds on my left hand from these needles.” That’s right, the needles were like little razors on a mission.

Now, let me give you another little peek into my mind as soon as I started dragging the tree back to the car. “Man, this is a very heavy ten foot tree.” Yes, again, that’s right, the weight of the tree created a magnified friction effect between the sled and the ground which, in turn, created a slower and more painful half-mile walk back to the car than if we had no tree at all. Laura helped pull during this agonizing trip and mentioned something about how mules felt. I told her this was no time for jokes and silence would be appreciated. Just kidding, I would never, ever talk to someone like that, especially Laura, my queen.

During our trip back, we paused for a moment to snap a photo of one of the hillsides. This was taken for the blog too. Ok, you know my secret. I take pictures for blogs, now forget about it. When we made it back to the home base, we paid the extra dollar for the nice men to tighten up the tree for us through their machine. Then, some generous guy in the parking lot helped me load the tree on top of my car.

I have no pictures of me dragging the tree up out front porch steps and into the house because I was too busy being maimed by the pine needles, but Laura took a few nice ones after we stood the tree up in the stand.

Not bad huh? She’s giant. We already put some lights up on it but need some more. I am going to grab them tomorrow and then I will post a picture of the final product. All I need now is some Egg Nog.