Each of the last several years we’ve had the joy of heading to The Christmas Tree Farm in Central, SC to get our tree. This year our local Parenting magazine interviewed us about our family tradition, which was nice.
Typically the first Saturday after Thanksgiving we’ll head out to the farm, where there are acres and acres of perfectly sculpted Christmas trees. The kind folks at The Christmas Tree Farm provide us with hot chocolate or apple cider, a very sharp hand saw, and general directions on the various kinds of trees they offer. They come in any height from Charlie Brown to over 10 feet tall. They have cypresses, white pines, sapphires, green pines and more.
A key when picking out a tree is to pick one close to your vehicle. One year I forgot this simple key and ended up dragging a tree for half a mile. This was the same year I thought bigger was better: we had a 10 foot tree. I thought I was going to die, only to find out later that they would have hauled it up to the shop if I had just asked. Lesson learned. This was another instance when I should have listened to my wife.
When my kids were younger, they enjoyed straddling me like a horse as I was lying on the ground trying to saw the tree down. I’m glad they are older now. They also enjoy the shaking and netting machines. My engineering son likes these the best.
I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving and Christmas season as you enjoy your friends and family, as well as the point of it all: Christ came to die for our sins!!
And for those of you who are camping out next Thursday for Black Friday, be sure to read my story to gain some practical tips on how to pull this off and live to tell about it.
Checkout some of our training videos on our YouTube Channel
Scott Hefty said, Rick…great story. It reminds me of being intentional for the Christmas Holiday preparations. I like the fact that you go the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. We are going to start our Christmas preparations/decorating on this day too.
In the past we have let it slide to the week before and it becomes a chore. This has robbed us of the joy of Christmas. Not this year or ever again I hope. We are going to welcome our Savior and enjoy the season.
Have blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanks for sharing.