The Perfect Christmas Tree

Across the Fence #579


Have you ever gone from one Christmas tree farm or lot to another one, trying to find the perfect tree? You stand them up straight and rotate them around, inspecting them from every angle. Just when you think you found one, you notice it’s not even on every side. Then you discard that tree and move on to the next one.

One year I thought we had found a perfect tree, at least it was before we brought it home, but when I set it upright in the stand, it leaned considerably to the side. Then I noticed it took a 90-degree turn halfway up the trunk. Well, I may be exaggerating just a little on the 90-degree part, but it was very crooked. I decided to cut some of the trunk off to make it straighter, but then the bottom branches were uneven, so I sawed a little more off. By the time I got done sawing and straightening, our seven-foot tree was about four feet tall. But at least it stood up straight! 

Another time the trunk at the base was so thick it wouldn’t fit through the top of the tree stand. Again the trusty saw came out and once again our tree that had been $5.00 a foot was about $10.00 shorter by the time I finished cutting, trimming, and shaping. Uff da. 

Being a rather frugal Norwegian (Linda calls me cheap), I’d break into a cold sweat when I looked at the prices of artificial trees. I started calculating how many years of buying a “live” tree would add up to the cost of one artificial tree. Although, I don’t know why we call them live trees. When we cut a tree down, it’s pretty much a “dead” tree, at least in my mind. All the needles that dropped off and ended up on our carpet were testament to that.

I must admit, I like the “real” Christmas trees. I love the pine smell in the house. I hear some people buy those pine scent deodorizers you can get for a car, and hang them on the tree to get that natural scent. Somehow an artificial pine smell on an artificial tree just doesn’t seem very natural to me!

Around our house, a Christmas tree has multiple uses. I like to get my money’s worth. When we lived in Madison, after the holidays were over, the ornaments and lights were packed away for another year, and the tree was retired to our back yard. There it remained until spring to provide some shelter for the many birds that came to our yard to feed each day.

I didn’t let the other discarded trees in our neighborhood go to waste either. Before the city crews came around and ground them up, I’d carry, drag, or haul them down the street and into our backyard. Some years I had a regular pine forest to shelter the birds from snow and predators. Plus, they looked nice with all the snow hanging on their branches.

Our kids must have thought their father was deranged as I rescued discarded Christmas trees and drug them to the backyard, under cover of darkness of course. The neighbors probably wondered where their trees disappeared to overnight. Their suspicions were answered each spring when a pile of very dead Christmas trees appeared on our curb for pickup by the city crews.

I could tell we were one of the last holdouts in our neighborhood with a “live” tree, because each year my pine forest in the back yard got smaller. The last year we lived in Madison, I only had three live (dead)trees.

I understand why. It’s hard finding that “perfect” tree and the artificial ones become more real-looking each year. And of course, they’re all perfect! 
Even though I look for the perfect tree, I like the idea that a tree isn’t perfect, although those really crooked tree trunks did try my patience. I certainly have my share of imperfections so why should I expect a tree to be perfect? 

However, none of our trees could hold a candle—or ornament—to the one my mother’s family had when she was young. We have a photo of her brothers, LaMont and Cyril Hanson, standing in front of the most pitiful looking tree I’ve ever seen. It makes Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree look wonderful.

LaMont and Cyril

As I looked at the tree that had once served as the Christmas tree for my mother and her family, I noticed the decorations. They were as sparse as the tree. But, I imagine each one was lovingly placed on that tree. It looks like many, if not all of them, were hand-made. Those simple decorations may not have transformed the tree into a perfect tree in other people’s eyes, but I’m willing to bet it brought joy and the spirit of the Christmas season to their home.

I find the same is true with our trees. After the bare tree is decorated with ornaments and lights, it transforms even an imperfect tree into a near-perfect one. Each ornament has a history and a story to tell. Those memories of past Christmases return as each ornament is hung on the tree. 

Ornaments hand-made by our children when they were young; ornaments that once hung on our family trees when Linda and I were young; ornaments once made by my cousin Sandy each year; wood carved ornaments; special Hallmark ornaments… each one a story, each one a memory. All those things combine to transform our tree each year, into the perfect Christmas tree.

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