Groovy Kid Stuff

For the last few years we’ve been using a hand-me-down artificial xmas tree. Not pre-lit, more like pre-1980. It takes up a huge amount of the storage space, so last year I folded it up, wrapped it in a couple garbage bags and duct tape and stuck it out in our funky old tin shed.

Before the fake tree we used a few other substitutes, either a potted Norfolk Island pine (and only tiny ornaments) or a potted live tree (now planted in the front yard.)

This year I wanted a real cut tree, partly because our house is for sale and I know that my Charlie-Brown-would-laugh-at-us trees would freak out anyone who doesn’t know us, partly because I hope this house sells and I wanted to have at least one year where we utilized this house’s full tree potential.
I don’t like spending money on things that are going to be thrown away, I know that most trees are cut a long time before they are sold and drop needles like crazy, and I wanted a really big tree this year, so I decided to cut one of my own.

I’ve planted a lot of trees around our yard, and there were a lot here to begin with. When I heard that a subdivision was going to be built on the vacant land that surrounded our house I planted even more, mostly evergreens around the outer edges of the property where I suspected houses might be visible. So I had a few to choose from.

I decided to cut a leyland cypress - a variety that is popular for xmas trees around here. A few years ago I read about a cut-your-own tree farm in California that asked cutters to cut the trees about 1 foot above ground level so that the tree could re-grow from the same root system, more like pruning off a xmas tree than cutting one down, and leyland cypress tolerate pruning really well.

Dashiell and Ray helped me cut our tree - they held the branches that would remain with the stump out of the way while I sawed. When we brought it inside it was too tall even for our high ceilings, so I had to cut off another 8 inches. We set it up in a tree stand that I bought at goodwill ($4) and decorated it over the next couple days. It fell once, the floors aren’t totally level and there are a lot of decorations on one side, but we have it secured to the window frame now so it will take a lot to tip it again.

There is plenty of space between the branches for ornaments, it is tall, wide enough without taking over the room, and the price was totally right. I checked on the stump today and the remaining branches are fine. There will probably be a new trunk (or a few) sprouting this spring, and this variety grows 3 feet a year, so it’ll probably be ready for another pruning in 2-3 years. I hope we’re not still here!