The First of Many

Broken Arrow Nursery sounds like a place that takes care of your tough little kid. It isn’t. It is the place to go for the best Christmas tree cutting experience. They give you a saw and a graduated 8-foot pole (to measure the height of your tree) and set you loose on acres of farmland. Sounds like any tree farm right? Well it kind of is, but this was the first time since before high school that I went out and did it (therefore the first time with Maggie) and also, it is the tree for our first married Christmas.

I have fond childhood memories of going out with the family, hunting for the perfect tree, being left in the cold to guard one that was of particular interest, and watching my dad try to hack it down and tie it to the car. It even seemed like a Christmas miracle when the farm owner would give us free rope.

Now my parents have an artificial tree with built-in lights and it makes sense because it’s easier.

Maggie and I have now started a tradition. There's nothing better than that. We think that when we buy a house, we will buy a potted tree to decorate and then keep it on the property. Maybe we’ll decorate one of those cedar seedlings (cedarlings) and use that in future years.

As a side note- it was awesome that our good friend Mark works at the Broken Arrow and not only helped us bag the tree and tie it to the car, but also showed us how to make wreaths. I felt like we were on a Christmas episode of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood where one of the local experts took the time to teach you how to do something.

Last thing- there is a machine, about the size of a microwave, that has a rapidly vibrating pedestal. They balance your tree on it and it shakes all of the loose needles off it. I have never seen a vibrating Christmas tree before and I have not been so delighted by a simple sight in a long time. I kind of wish my tree vibrated wildly all the time.

Picture of the tree to follow