Cutting a Christmas Tree from my Backyard

THE VERY FRESHEST CHRISTMAS TREE EVER

Today it was unseasonably warm--in the mid-fifties. By 4:00 I had cleared a space in the sun room for a Christmas tree, but now it was raining, the wind was howling and it had dropped into the 40's.

I finally decided today that an evergreen tree in my backyard would soon be too big for its space in a shady corner behind the house and so I sawed it off at its base and hauled it to the deck where I cut off 6 more inches. The tree was larger than I had imagined before seeing it in place inside--over 10 ft. tall. We had to move a love seat to a different room and put many of my houseplants in the laundry room, but it fit, just barely, with the top sticking up into the skylight.

The husband helped to get it straight in the stand while I tightened the screws. He was delighted that I had found a free tree. We have talked about going artificial, but you have to pay hundreds of dollars to get a nice full tree.

This tree is not going to win any awards or make top billing on a google image search but I am as pleased as punch with it and myself. I can't believe I killed my own backyard tree, but yet, I feel like a pioneer woman. This untrimmed shady-area tree is a little sparse, but I'm okay with that. The crooked "Charlie Brown" tree I considered last year is still back there and it will also have to be cut and tossed one of these days. There are no more right-sized evergreens to cut. I wish I had planted a few more 10 years ago.

I didn't have a tree last year and didn't want to admit defeat and become an old person with no energy to put up a tree (although I have already helped with two trees since Thanksgiving).  Yesterday a neighbor from up the street stopped by with her children, delivering Christmas cookies. She looked at my husband and said, "was it you I saw up on the roof cleaning the gutters?"  That would be me. Maybe I'm not so old just yet. I did promise her that she would see the husband out there with his brand new (slightly used) powerful snowblower this winter--if it ever snows! He just might do the whole block.

I didn't even remember how many working sets of Christmas lights I had, but found the rainbow sets that my daughters bought several years ago for their apartments, with ten (ROYGBIV + 3) mini-light colors. All my married life I have had only plain and clear lights and I am enjoying the colorful change. The tree really needs a topper or flowing bow or something, but I cannot reach the top with my ladder!