FROM ALBION TO FAIRFIELD . . .OUR TREE IS TRIMMED

We took a ride to beautifully rural Albion Maine, which is just across the Sebasticook River from Fairfield and Benton, to the Holmes Family Tree Farm, where we cut our very own Christmas tree. After walking down hard packed snowmobile trails through the fields and woodlots, we stumbled across this lonely little guy (or, rather, medium guy) who was with only one other tree in "last year's lot."
Meanwhile, Thomas had asked us to pick out a tree for him and the bean, so this is what I found. We'll put it in Thomas's room, and he has ornaments of pieces of turkey that he'll put on the tree
Today was a beautiful, cold, crisp day to be outside looking for a Christmas tree. Another small storm is supposed to be moving into our region tonight, and, although we'll only pick up an inch or two, hopefully it will "freshen" the landscape. It is a pretty neat feeling to be able to cut down your own Christmas tree and see the transformation from what existed in the woods of Maine . . . .
. . . .to what ends up gracing your home for the holidays
It smells deliciously balsamish in our house, and, as Mike alluded to in his "tree" blog, boxes of ornaments truly create a storyboard of past remembrances, future hopes, and emotional holiday moments from yesteryear. Going through the shabbily wrapped chunks of worn out tissue paper to reveal the ornament nestled inside is like opening a time capsule, and stories emerge about many of the pieces we hang on our tree. Amanda and I are still "new" enough in our lives together that, although our ornaments are "mixed," some of our individual ornaments drive each other crazy. For example, she has this "cat" thing that scares the crap out of me to look at . . . I wont come down in the middle of the night to feed the stove because I fear I'll encounter it staring at me. I, on my end, have a Muhammad Ali ornament my old boxing coach gave me, and Amanda hates that. We play jokes on each other like trying to throw them away, or trying to hang them as close to the trunk of the tree as possible. A good game. I do love Christmas ornaments. Of all types. And, lastly, thank you Mike for a heartfelt comment on our previous entry-we wish the same to you . . . .