This year marks our third Christmas in Chez M and C. Our first year we scavenged a tree from our land, with predictably depressing results. The second year, suitably distracted by a new baby and a flurry of snowstorms, we just bought one and remembered what a Christmas tree was supposed to look like.
This year…well… you know our motto:
“Why pay for something decent when you can throw a baby on your back and tromp through the snow in search of a completely imperfect, but free, tree?”
(That’s one of our mottos, anyway.)
We divided duties in the usual fashion. Cherie carried Annabel and gave helpful suggestions while Michael did the actual work. It didn’t take us long before we found a tree we thought might work.
(He is actually sawing the tree down in this picture, though it doesn’t much look like it.)
We brought the tree in, shook off all the snow, trimmed off the bottom branches, set it up in the stand, and took a good hard look. And…hmmm.
Seems a bit sparse, doesn’t it?
It’s not that bad, of course, and it’s certainly light years ahead of that first sad, little tree. But it could be better.
Luckily, we are very (veeeery) used to making do and thinking creatively. And we had all those extra branches that were trimmed off the bottom. Why don’t we just drill some holes…
Whittle down those spare branches…
And use them to, you know, fill things out a bit?
That is better, don’t you think? Now it just needs some lights and decorations…
And we’re ready to go.
Oh, wait, one more thing. How could we forget? The star! That most valuable star that we made last year when we desperately needed something to top off our otherwise wonderful tree.
That’s what we are looking for. Now that is a proper DIY tree.
Happy holidays! May all your trees be jerryrigged and your ornaments homemade!
10 comments
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December 23, 2008 at 8:03 am
Ed Abbey
I’ve got to remember that trick of filling in the tree with extra branches. Hillarious!
After you were done, the tree was almost fuller than Michael’s muttonchops!
December 23, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Kathy from NJ
Dear Cherie,
My father & our next-door neighbor (and probably everyone else in the middle-class world) did the same thing in the 50′s & early 60′s! Except they bought trees (bought extra tall so there would be plenty of left-over branches) and did not use power drills, they used hand drills that you cranked with your own human-power. And every tree was absolutely perfect with (big) lights and mostly home-made decorations. Thank you for the memories. Kathy
December 24, 2008 at 9:21 am
Pablo
Very resourceful. My forest is full of cedar trees, which wouldn’t make a very nice Xmas tree. When I saw you drilling holes in that tiny trunk I thought for sure that it would weaken the tree, and your post would have a different ending.
December 24, 2008 at 9:57 am
Ed Abbey
You need to give cedars a chance Pablo. This is the 35th cedar tree I’ve had as a Christmas tree and I’ve loved them all. But the best part is that I’ve spent nary a cent for any of them.
December 24, 2008 at 10:30 am
Pablo
That’s no cedar tree.
December 24, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Cherie
As we have no cedars at all, I cannot weigh in on that debate. This is a spruce, which is mostly what covers our property. We also have a few white pines, but they are too straggly for Christmas trees, even with drill-related intervention.
December 24, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Pablo
BTW, I really doubt that you’ve seen 35 Christmases. I’ve seen photos of you, and it ain’t likely.
December 24, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Ed Abbey
Pablo, you must have been referring to Cherie as I haven’t published any photos of me in a long while. I actually was one off, this will be my 36th Christmas.
January 4, 2009 at 5:02 pm
zilla
A sparse tree drapes well, I think. My grandmother always had a sparse spruce — blue, or black — to ensure that her lovely combination of home-crafted ornaments and the antiques she collected would have plenty of room to hang without scraping against the branches. If I could ever find a tree as beautifully airy as the one you have here, I would be thrilled. In northern Michigan, it seems, all of the tree farmers prune to ensure the type of fullness most people prefer. Like Pablo, I have cedar. There are also some white pine, and some gnarly hemlocks, but I don’t cut them as they provide a much desired screen from too-close neighbors on a small city lot.
Lovely blog, Cherie and Ed. A real breath of fresh air.
January 5, 2009 at 12:42 am
Sandy
Hi, M, C & Annabel!
Your tree is lovely. The pictures were wonderful. Congratulations on your new site. It’s very nice.
Wishing you tons of wonderful things in 2009.
Give that darling little girl a small kiss from me!