One of the many cool things about living at the edge of a forest, is we can always find a small tree to thin out for the holidays. Every year since we moved here, the four of us have climbed the trail to the top of our property and picked out our favorite fir tree. You can read about our past tree excursions here: Finding Our Family Tree and A Homegrown Tree.
This year we had some work to do in our little wood lot, so we packed up our tools and made a family work day of it. We had a lot of scotch broom we needed to remove and burn, the road to our spring to clear, and a gate to fix, not to mention a tree to find.
The weather was finally wet enough for us to safely have a burn pile, and we took out every single scotch broom plant. It was fun to have a little bonfire to add to the festivities of the day.
My son is becoming quite the young man, and he was proud to have the job of cutting the tree this year.
It was nice to sit together and enjoy the fire after all that hard work.
More so than a holiday tree, I like to think of this as a family tree. These traditions we carry out every year are part of what binds a family together. Every ornament we hang up has a story, just like every burn pile day we have in our woodlot creates a story for future telling. I’m hoping to plant some noble fir up there this winter, to ensure we can carry on this tradition for years to come and have plenty of family stories to tell.
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