Wild Thing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way to the mountains to cut our own tree, it was a rare sunny day after a light snow.  The kids had fallen asleep in the car.  When they awoke to the wintry wonderland, their huge smiles and giddy excitement were my early Christmas gift.  I was equally ecstatic about shooting pictures in such gorgeous light (and even getting some of them wearing my hand knits!)    We hiked into steep places looking for the perfect tree, which was beginning to get hilariously frustrating.  "I like that one," I told him way up there.  "But I can't drag it down here," he said.  I started to ask myself, "Why are we cutting a tree from the forest and bringing it home anyway?"

 

Being in a huge rain forest, all the trees towered above.  The ones our size were getting very little light, growing spindly and skinny.  We ended up cutting one by the road, and wrestled it onto our car while the kids enjoyed the show.  I've never harvested a tree from the wild before and now fully appreciate the ease of our beloved salmon-safe tree farm.  I have also never had to trim my tree, this one needed quite a bit of a haircut before it fit into our living room.  Of course once the lights and ornaments were hung, we thought she was a beautiful wild thing.