Mutant Christmas Trees

When we went to buy our xmas tree a couple of weeks ago, we ended up at the same tree farm we went to last year. There are tons of farms around here, but we knew where that one was, and we're lazy. When we got there, I remembered what a hard time we had finding a decent-looking tree there last year, and not surprisingly, they didn't have any trees there this year that were any better than the ones from last year. The choices might not be so limited if we could buy a taller one -- they seem to have a better selection of those -- but with these 7-foot ceilings we are kind of limited on the size we can choose.

So we were walking around looking at the trees, and most of them looked pretty okay from one side, but on the other side there would be a huge, unsightly hole. I'm easy with the whole "back of the Christmas tree" thing, but these holes were so big that you could practically see them through the tree!

It certainly made me long for Central Pennsylvania, where there were tons of high-quality xmas tree farms growing gorgeous blue spruces and fraser firs. I miss Kuhn's tree farm!

Anyway, back to Connecticut. The worst part was when we walked around to the edge of the xmas tree field, and came across these mutant trees that had been damaged by a huge deciduous tree that had fallen on them at some time. There were pines that had been bent at 90 degree angles right in the middle of the trunk, and they were still growing that way. It was really creepy, like something from that X-Files episode, Home. I only wish I had had my camera with me.

But the story has a happy ending. After lots of looking, we found a 7-foot tree with a less-than-gaping hole. And the best part of all -- it has tons of pine cones in it, still attached. I love that! It's so cool, especially with all the bird decorations. So we're happy with the one we got.

But next year we're goin' somewhere else. (Like maybe Pennsylvania.)