O, Christmas Tree!

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Much pleasure thou can'st give me;
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Much pleasure thou can'st give me;
How often has the Christmas tree
Afforded me the greatest glee!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Much pleasure thou can'st give me.

Author Unknown

Our family's Christmas season began on November 23rd, the day after Thanksgiving. We made our annual trek to Beck's Tree Farm in Alpine, Utah. It's a whopping 5-mile trek from our home to this winter wonderland of fresh pine. This is one of my favorite family traditions. Everyone gets bundled up for the yearly search for the perfect Christmas tree. This year, we invited my brother and his family to come with us. Precious cousin time resulted, along with muddy shoes, needle pokes, complaints of being cold, sunny skies, a 40 degree day and yes, our AMAZING TREE!

It's a process, you see, for wandering through rows of trees looking for the pine that's just right takes skill and talent. It can't be too short, nor too tall. It can't be too fat or too skinny. It can't have brown needles or strange growths. It needs to be more on the green side than the blue/silvery look. The Bushman Family Tree can't have awkward bare spots, and the top has to be workable. However, non-symmetrical is not a problem. Once we get home, the clippers come out and we give the tree a shave to achieve that perfect Christmas tree shape that I love. 

This year, we traveled to Beck's, found THE TREE, cut it down (well, Beck's cut it down), tied it to the roof (again, Beck was our friend) and drove home in 59 minutes. Whew, record time! We still managed to have some fun, especially with the extra six tree-hunters in tow.

And here's our perfect Christmas tree...

It looks like a big jumble of pine now...but wait 'till you see the end result.

And that's our 2012 Christmas Tree Adventure. O, Christmas Tree - much pleasure thou can'st give me and my family. You truly have afforded us the greatest glee...that of traditions and Memories that STICK!

More to Come....but until then, Stick-to-it!