EVERYDAY ADVENTURES

A Tree for Every Season

The first Christmas after my family moved to the country, my dad and I got our Christmas tree the old-fashioned way. We hiked into the woods with our three big dogs and chopped it down ourselves. Mom stayed home to get the decorations ready as we scoured the forest searching for the perfect tree.

Sure, we may not have technically been on our property by the time we actually found one, but at least it wasn’t in someone’s backyard or in a public park. Since we lived in the middle of the woods, no one really cared.

Who knows what that tree actually looked like, but in my mind, it was the coolest Christmas tree the world had ever seen because we went out and found it ourselves. Rockefeller Center had nothing on us.

Who knows what that tree actually looked like, but in my mind, it was the coolest Christmas tree the world had ever seen because we went out and found it ourselves. Rockefeller Center had nothing on us.

I imagined when I grew up and became a dad myself, I’d take my kids out and do the same thing, which shows you what a naive child I was. Clearly, I had no idea what it was like to actually have children.

By my teenage years, we started making things a little easier on ourselves. Someone opened a U-cut tree farm down the road from our house, which simplified the tree hunting process. Instead of having to hike into the woods, we could drive there, chop it down, strap it to the car and be home in five minutes.

Even though it didn’t have quite the same pioneer vibe as the days when we harvested our tree straight from the back 40, it still felt authentic. It was just a little more convenient. I could see myself doing this with my kids someday, too. Did I mention I had no idea what it would be like to have children?

Fast forward another decade, and my wife and I continued the U-cut tradition during our honeymoon years. It was just the two of us living near Indianapolis, and we found this amazing tree farm near the town of Zionsville. Not only did the farm have acres of towering trees, but they even had a toy train display and served hot cocoa in their store.

One year we found ourselves picking out our tree as a thick blanket of snow fell on the evergreens. You couldn’t get more Norman Rockwell than this holiday experience, and I knew some day my kids were going to love it!

One year we found ourselves picking out our tree as a thick blanket of snow fell on the evergreens. You couldn’t get more Norman Rockwell than this holiday experience, and I knew some day my kids were going to love it!

And then my wife got pregnant, and everything changed. My first daughter was due Dec. 12. That kind of put a crimp in the whole going out to the old-fashioned Christmas tree farm idea. Talk about poor timing! Whose idea was it to have a baby in December, anyway? Unless your names are Mary and Joseph, that’s just a really bad idea.

But now here we were trying to prepare for the holidays and having a baby all at the same time. Also, I worked at a church that had a bazillion Christmas Eve services that year, so at home we went into full-out survival mode. We threw up an artificial tree, slapped on some lights, and counted ourselves lucky to have it.

I told myself this was just a baby thing. Once my daughter got older, we’d be out singing “O Tannenbaum” on the way to the country tree farm in no time.

Then, just when things were settling down, we decided to drop another grenade into the Christmas season by having a second child. And, in another display of poor timing, we had her in the fall. That meant we were neck-deep in infant care for yet another Christmas season.

While my second daughter was a blessing and bundle of joy, she did not help my plans for a Norman Rockwell trip to the tree farm. At this point, we basically just gave up and bought a pre-lit tree.

While my second daughter was a blessing and bundle of joy, she did not help my plans for a Norman Rockwell trip to the tree farm. At this point, we basically just gave up and bought a pre-lit tree.

I’m convinced that if we’d had another child, we would have eventually just started hanging up a pine tree air freshener by our mantle and called it good.

Now that my wife and I are on the verge of being empty nesters, I’m finally admitting defeat. The closest we came to cutting down our own tree was the year we took our kids to a tree farm to get Christmas card pictures made in October. At least I can look at those cards and imagine what it would have been like had we actually made it to a tree farm for Christmas.

However, as I look back over the holidays, I realize it really doesn’t matter whether you get your tree from the woods, a farm, a department store or even online. It’s the people who gather around the tree that matter. And the truth is, the perfect tree, the most authentic Christmas tree, has already been provided by Christ Himself.

However, as I look back over the holidays, I realize it really doesn’t matter whether you get your tree from the woods, a farm, a department store or even online. It’s the people who gather around the tree that matter. And the truth is, the perfect tree, the most authentic Christmas tree, has already been provided by Christ Himself.

I’m sure our holiday traditions will continue to change as our kids grow older and start new traditions of their own, but the one thing that will never change is the hope we have in Jesus and the reason we have to celebrate through all the seasons of life.

And, of course, when grandkids come along, I may just get that family trip to the farm after all.•