Christmas Tradition Nets Another Fine Tree

Last Sunday we cut our Christmas tree. It was quite uneventful as far as calamities go, but of course, the tree isn’t up yet.

A tradition was started a few years ago with our kids, Mike and Misty, our grandbabies and some close friends. We all meet and head north to our favorite tree plantation where we climb aboard a hay wagon that takes us to acres and acres of trees. The day was perfect — not too cold, but snowing.

The trees are exceptional this year — lush green, good growth, no sign of insect damage or drought. I expected drought damage due to last summer’s hot, dry spell, but they were beautiful. Of course, the shape of the trees was perfect. For me, this is a bit of a drawback. Once the tree is up, I have to prune out about $10 worth of branches from a $30 tree, to make room for the ornaments. Through experience, I have discovered that this task is best handled before the lights are strung on the tree. The green light cords blend quite nicely into the green boughs. Need I say more?

Before the hay wagon even came to a halt, Jim was pointing out our tree.

Bah humbug, Jim. We can’t take the first tree we see. Where’s the fun in that? We had to search, scrutinizing each tree - too open here, to full there, not enough branches on the top, too many on the bottom. We finally had to choose, everyone already had his or hers. I think the tree we finally settled on might have been the one Jim spotted from the hay wagon.

By the way, you don’t have to bring your own saw to cut down your tree.

The plantations provide very sharp saws and usually measuring poles.

Acres and acres of trees growing out in the open have a tendency to look shorter than they are. Know how tall and wide you want your tree, and take into account the size of your tree stand. If you don’t, you may find your tree taking up your entire living space while scraping the paint off the ceiling.

Our trees were loaded onto a wagon and taken to a barn where they were stood up on a machine and shaked to remove dried needles. Don’t be alarmed as dead needles pile up under your beautiful green tree. Because plantation trees are sheared, brown needles are common on branches around the trunk. Regular shearing and grooming creates a thick tree, which prevents light from penetrating into its interior. The tree is perfectly healthy. I am just glad the needles wind up on their floor instead of ours.

Once the trees have been cleaned of all their messy needles, they’re slipped into a netted sock that pulls the branches up tightly against the trunk. The tightly bound tree is not only easier to transport, but with the branches up close to the trunk, wind can’t whip or break them.

After arriving home with the tree, the first thing on the agenda was to recut the bottom. We do this because the tree absorbs water through the cut end on its base. When the base is exposed to air, the tree produces a sealant to cover the cut. Little does it know that it’s sealing its own fate. Obviously, once the cut is sealed, water can’t move into the tree. After recutting though, and then placing it in water, the tree can drink to its heart’s content.

Depending upon its size, a fresh tree can drink 5 gallons of water or more in a week. For most of us with typical stands, we may need to add water two or three times a day for that first week. I can’t stress it enough: check the water level often, especially those first few days.

If the water level in the stand is allowed to go below the base of the tree, the tree will seal the cut. From that point on the tree will begin to dry, no matter how much water is in the stand.

With any luck, this process will be less hazardous than some prior years. Our industrial-strength tree stand should see to that.

Share tree stories If you’ve seen some past year’s columns regarding cutting, setting up and decorating our Christmas tree, you know we’ve had some wild and woolly adventures. It’s your turn now, dear readers. If you have a Christmas tree story (both funny and not so funny) you’d like to share, send it in to: Phyllis Stephens, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. I don’t know how or if I’ll use the stories, but if I do, I’ll not use your name without permission. Please don’t exaggerate, I’d appreciate true stories only.