Three Trees

A couple of weeks ago, we woke up to the first snow of the season. It wasn't much, but it was enough to bring out the angelic sides of Luke and Jaz.


Feeling inspired by this wintery gesture on Nature's part, we decided to head for the hills to pick out and cut down our solstice tree. Oddly enough, the hills had been spared the dusting of white, so the tree farm wasn't quite the picturesque scene I'd been imagining. But it was plenty chilly, and there were plenty of trees for us to choose between.

We told the kids that we were looking for a smallish tree, and they took it to an extreme, lusting after all of the itsy bitsy baby trees that they could find.

"We want this one!"

So Lena and I had to intervene and choose the tree without their input. Though they still helped me to cut it down.

"Yes, I'm helping."

Though Lena is perhaps the only one among us qualified to cut down a tree (she's working towards a masters in Forestry), she chose to photograph the event, while the kids and I got busy with the saw.

"Tim-ber!"

The exciting drama of felling the tree was followed by much poutiness on the parts of Luke and Jaz, who were still insisting that we had chosen the wrong tree. Not exactly the romantic experience I'd anticipated. No snow, pouty kids, who could ask for anything more?

"What did we expect?"

But then we were saved by the branch! Make that two branches. Jaz discovered a pile of discarded tree branches, and pulled out his very own "baby tree." And, of course, Lukas was quick to follow suit.

A little trim with the saw, and the "baby trees" were born.

Happiness is a tiny tree.

Zeben was blissfully unaware of all the angst at the tree farm. Aren't two-year-olds supposed to be the most challenging members of the family?

Sitting in a tree chair.

Back at home, we set up all three trees in the living room (for the tiny trees, we used buckets filled with small rocks to hold them upright), and the kids wasted no time in hanging ornaments. All of our ornaments are either animals or symbols of winter (sweaters, snowflakes, sleds, snowpeople, etc.).

And, just as it is with children, three trees are better
(more cheerful, more colorful, more festive,
more space-taking, more work) than one.