A Christmas Tree Adventure

This year, we decided to do something a little bit different for our Christmas tree. Christmas in my childhood ALWAYS meant a real tree. Or two. Or three. Okay, okay, I grew up having a little Christmas tree in my bedroom decorated with all my very own ornaments. Part of this was because my birthday is also in December so I have more than the average persons collection of baby's first Christmas ornaments. There are also many crafters on both sides of my family who reliably made a homemade ornament for each grandchild in the family every year. Another major part of the tradition was that we always made an outing to cut our own tree. For many years this meant cutting one from around my Grandma and Grandpa Schoeneck's house, where my Uncle Dennis planted them and kept them trimmed. Other years we went to a local cut-your-own tree farm. It's a tradition that holds many fond memories for me. I've even got a series of once a year photographs to prove it, from little tiny me in a huge pink snowsuit to high school age  me helping carry out the tree.

When Kevin and I moved to Washington we stuck to the tradition of getting a real tree but hadn't found an affordable place to cut our own. Turns out real Christmas trees are expensive folks! I also dreamed of a way for us to make more of a day of it and infuse it with a little bit of our own tradition. We had heard rumors last year that it was possible to cut your own at one of the state or national forests. This year, we did our research and made it happen.

We decided to head to the Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest. We have been up to this area before for hiking and fishing. It's relatively close to the city but offers just the sort of wilderness Christmas adventure we were looking for. Our first stop was the Verlot Public Service Center, where we got our $10 (cheap!) tree permit and some guidance from a very nice ranger. He gave us a map and some directions on where we might have luck finding a good Christmas-worthy tree. As we walked out the door he called, "good luck out there", which made us smile and feel like we were going hunting. Also, they give you a blaze orange tag to attach to the tree you take, which makes it feel even more like deer hunting. In a way I guess we were - Christmas tree hunting that is. Ha!

From there we set out along Mountain Loop Highway to a certain public service road (it has a number/letter combination I can't remember), where we turned off and made our way tentatively up a very narrow and rustic road. Unpaved and just barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other with no guard rails even at the steep parts. I'm not sure what the elevation change was, but I drove very carefully up those five miles with both hands on the wheel and very deliberate deep breathing. There was only a little bit of cussing while dodging potholes.

By the time we reached the pull off pointed out by the ranger, there was a little bit of snow on the ground. I had had visions of a snow covered forest with gentle flakes still falling down as we cut our perfect tree. Unfortunately it was raining instead, but not very hard so we didn't feel rushed while searching for our tree. And there was just enough on the ground for a few snowballs. After walking up the road a bit more and wandering from "this one!" to "no, this one!" for a bit we finally decided on a nice fairly full little guy. Kevin was excited to pull out our ax and claim it with a few chops. It is quite small, but just right for our little apartment. It also fit easily in the back of our car, which is a must for us. Add leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches and hot coffee and I think we've made ourselves a regular 'ole Churchill Family Christmas tradition!

Here's our little beauty all decorated up:

If you're in the Seattle area and are interested in having your own Christmas tree adventure, here's the link to all the info about how to do it in the Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest.