You can hardly go through a stack of old photos at my house without finding at least one "hunting for a Christmas tree" picture. When my family moved to California when I was 4, we began a tradition that, little did I know at the time, would continue well beyond our little family. From our home in San Jose we would drive on Highway 17 until just before asending the Santa Cruz Mountains. There's a very curvy road and after about 20 minutes, you find yourself in Christmas Tree HEAVEN! There's probably a dozen different "farms" from which you can select, after hours of joyfully trudging up and down the mountain, the PERFECT tree to adorn your home for Christmas. Okay, there might have been a few years, as a teenager, when the trudging wasn't done "joyfully" (right, Mom?). This was a much-looked forward to tradition that ALWAYS happened in our family. Mom took MANY pictures and to date there are probably hundreds (right Dad?) of pictures of us selecting, cutting down, tying to the car, my brother finding various mountain "creatures," and driving home the tree. Kirk was introduced to this tradition shortly after our marriage. I'm not sure how much attention he paid to the "fatherly duties" associated with this tradition.
Then one day six years ago, my own somewhat larger family, left Arizona for the Bay Area and something else was left behind--our artificial Christmas tree.
Yesterday, we left this dreary Brentwood FOG behind...
Did you know that fog can stay all-day long and you can go days and weeks without seeing the sun? I didn't, until I moved to Brentwood. I have issues with it.
And arrived HERE:
The beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains... SUNSHINE and some JOYFUL trudging in search of the PERFECT tree! Isn't it beautiful here? I secretly shed TEARS of JOY while listening to Yo Yo Ma and James Taylor sing "Here Comes The Sun" when we approached our favorite hunting ground:
At last we arrive and I religiously offer my thankfulness for beautiful weather:
And then begin our hunt...
The boys immediately whip out the walkie-talkies and become one with the trees. The girls search with me for THE tree. We use children as markers for the possible choices. I am the ultimate picker. When we had vaulted ceilings, we would try and find the tallest. Now, much to Kirk's relief, we are somewhat limited in height, so we look for girth. Anything's possible on the mountain. The best part? All trees are $45.00 no matter the type or size! Everyone had a happy day and we look forward to many more years of this great tradition.
Anyone want to join us next year?
4 comments:
I loved that post. You told the story so well.
You almost have me convinced to go back to the live tree. Almost.
I LOVED this post! I'm so jealous. The only thing missing was snow! It still seems weird to me to get a Christmas tree in the sun. I hope my family can do this some day. What a great day!
I am coming next year.
Ooo I love it! I'm going next! It sounds and looks like fun!
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