A Crazy Christmas Tree Memory
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
Canada
December 13, 2015 8:38am CST
When I was a kid living in the country my brother and I were both 4H members. 4H is a club for country kids. Through the club, because we had a lot of land we participated in the re-forestation program in New York State and every year we would get 2000 baby pine trees to plant on our land.
By the time I was married and moved to Kansas those tiny trees were big enough to sell for Christmas Trees. My parents sold them for a few years until what was left were too big. Those big trees are now part of a forest.
This year we had planned to go to the “Lions” tree sale here in Ontario. We discovered all that were left are the huge ones so we decided to go out later (when it stops raining) to a local farm that has trees to cut yourself. It reminded me of this memory:
When in Kansas when our children had grown up enough to walk, we found a tree farm selling Christmas Trees and went to find our tree. We spent a long time finding the perfect tree for our house.
A person working there cut it down and took it to our car, tied it to the roof and off we went.
When we got home and started to put it in the tree stand we laughed out loud.
Those of you who live in the US know that Kansas is a hot and dry state.
We hadn't noticed until we got the tree home that the trunk and the bottom branches had been spray painted green to match the color of the other 2/3 of the tree.
It wasn't dead, just brown from the heat and dryness of the state. That was the first and last “cut your own tree” we ever bought while living in Kansas. I will admit I was a bit nervous about putting lights on a spray painted tree.
Some memories are priceless. Any tree memories out there?
17 people like this
15 responses
@celticeagle (189874)
• Boise, Idaho
15 Dec 15
One year my ex and I went out and cut our own tree. We found a place where we could and cut the finest tree Or so we thought. We cut it, tied it to the truck and drove home. We put in the stand and that is when we noticed it was crooked. Just a little. We both laughed. We decorated the tree and it was beautiful. Funny thing is that my granddaughter hadn't noticed the tree was crooked.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189874)
• Boise, Idaho
15 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate ...It was one of the nicest trees ever we had.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
15 Dec 15
i don't think it makes any difference if its crooked or not, still beautiful!
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
16 Dec 15
well at least you had a crooked Christmas tree and that was unique and so original.
2 people like this
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
15 Dec 15
There are no pine trees here but when I was a child, we do use dried branch of any tree. had it painted white and then make it stand straight on a can and then we hang Christmas decorations. One time my father hang real candies on it but before Christmas time ever came, the candies were already disappearing one by one.
2 people like this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
15 Dec 15
well I remember when my best friend got married. She and her husband had nothing, not even the basics, but their first Christmas they had an almost bare Christmas tree and it to this day still is her favorite tree.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
13 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate It must have been ok then, for it to keep it's needles for that long.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
13 Dec 15
I would love to hear about your childhood Christmas. In the end our tree was good, when it took it down it still had most of its needles.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
24 Dec 15
Oh my goodness...That must have been one big mess.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
27 Dec 15
@paigea I can understand what it meant to you.
1 person likes this
@paigea (36143)
• Canada
27 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate But, it was a great story to hear about my dad's childhood.
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
14 Dec 15
our Christmas tree is plastic, but it is more than 15 years now. Merry Christmas
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
14 Dec 15
Because we grew up with real trees, we carried that tradition on with our children, We still do it only because we love the smell of the pine. And the fun of going out and finding one. Plastic would be convenient, quicker and cleaner...when i get really old I might do it.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
16 Dec 15
@ridingbet We have many different pines here in Canada too, dozens of different types of needles. I fint the aroma of the pine goes away in a few days anyway or we get used to it, so Plastic is ok too.
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
16 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate but smelling the fragrance of a true natural and original Christmas tree always add to the happy spirit of the season. The summer capital of my country has many pine trees to boast of, but it is different from the Christmas tree in plastic. In Baguio city, the leaves are needle-form. (I didn't know how to describe that---sorry!)
1 person likes this
@marijuana (570)
• Tel Aviv, Israel
13 Dec 15
Cutting pine trees in our place is prohibited now a days . even if they are on our own private lands.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
14 Dec 15
Where I live there are billions of trees and no law against cutting them. I imagine there are not a lot of trees, especially pine in your area.
1 person likes this
@marijuana (570)
• Tel Aviv, Israel
14 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate there used to be a lot .. but people abused them for personal gain :(
1 person likes this
@ravisivan (14082)
• India
26 Feb 17
In India we do not have place for growing fashion trees in houses, However I am reminded of Adyar Banyan Tree which is very big and also many years old.
About thousands of years ago Indians worshipped Nature -- tree, rain, Sky. good day
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
26 Feb 17
I too worship nature every time I hike and have the opportunity to be part of that nature.
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
13 Dec 15
We used to cut our own tree too, one year we went out with the kids in the snow and picked our perfect tree. When we got home and put it on the tree holder it was tipped sideways. The bad part of the trunk had been under the snow. It was pretty short by the time we cut off the crooked part. That was it, we started using an artificial tree.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
14 Dec 15
We've had that problem in the past too. crooked doesn't work well...
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
15 Dec 15
That's what we were worried about to but it was fine and the needles didn't fall off..
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
15 Dec 15
We were surprised but it turned out ok.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
14 Dec 15
We had a laugh over that and worried about the health of our tree but all was good in the end.
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
14 Dec 15
our Christmas tree is plastic, but it is more than 15 years now. Merry Christmas
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
15 Dec 15
I'll bet its still beautiful. It is a choice for all of us now. That's a good thing.
@shellyjaneo (1076)
• United Kingdom
13 Dec 15
Haha how cheeky to paint the tree, I would have been worried too I don't know whether they would get away with that nowadays x
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
13 Dec 15
Well that's a new one one me. They spray painted the tree, amazing.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
14 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate I bet you were. I would not have been happy with that at all.
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