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Published: November 29th 2009
Liz posting:
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas. While our job prospects in the Jackson area are currently not promising, we keep hoping and looking for things to perk up. We are determined, though, to not let that get us down. This will be our first Christmas away from our families and and we are going to make the best of it. We do own some Christmas decorations, but they are all packed away in a basement in Missouri. A lot of good that does us out here. On black Friday, early afternoon, we scored some great deals on Christmas lights, ornament balls and snowflakes. We then found some glitter so that we could personalize our bargain basement finds.
So yesterday, we hiked an hour into the mountains and to a certain area to find a Christmas tree. We scoured and scoured until we found a pretty good one. Natural trees aren't as full as born and bred ones on tree farms. There were a couple good contenders, one I aptly named the "fat one" was in first for a while until we saw
the one- the Icenogle/Joseph Family Christmas tree . We did pick up a few things from
the Griswolds: we brought a saw, cleared the tree for squirrels and put it inside the car, not on top.
We were in a foot of snow for a large portion of the excursion and traipsing around a field with elk, deer and moose tracks in it, at least we think we saw all three tracks. Mark had a hack saw in his back pack and looked very manly as he cut down of the tree. Then it was official- we killed a tree for jesus. Mark pulled the tree through the snow, though he originally suggested carrying it down together. It told him I thought it was easier, but really I just didn't want to be dragged through the field by a tree where I could trip over snow covered hazards like down trees, etc. Also, there is a type of grouse out here that buries itself in the snow and if you get close to it, the bird SHOOTS straight up and out of the snow- inches from your face. The powder snow goes everywhere when it happens making it look like a snow explosion. So I just knew that if I was carrying the tree, that
would happen to me- Mark has much better luck. Dragging the tree did, however, turn out to be the best way to get it down for transport.
We were aiming for a 6 to 6 1/2 foot tree, but "the one" turned out to be about
eleven. Haha. So we did some creative cutting and it looks pretty good now . If you watched the video, that was just for giggles, we didn't see our neighbors when we got home. The deer did come by for a visit, however, and for a moment we were afraid they might eat some of the tree. Fortunately, pine is not in their wheelhouse and the tree remained intact. In fact, we only snapped off one branch throughout the entire ordeal. I have never worked so hard for a tree. Not even for the fake one my roommate and I put up three years in a row. That one was a pain (sorry, J, I don't mean to rat the tree out!).
We have the tree almost all decorated. While it isn't the best dressed tree, it is ours! I have included a number of the ornaments we "made" last night to help liven up the tree. Most are Mark's designs. It was interesting, his attempts
to make a simple bell or christmas tree were not so great, but he sure nailed the team insignias.
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Wendy
non-member comment
Christmas tree decorations
We enjoyed the story about securing your first Christmas tree. Such a good time it looked like!! We love the ornaments but want to know where is the ball for the Revolution? Just checking. Great job with the blog. We enjoy the commentary and pictures very much xo mom and dad