First off, a little background...
Growing up, my family always had a real Christmas tree. I loved smelling evergreen as it filled the house, and searching for the perfect specimen each year, whether in the snowy forest or a Boy Scouts lot.
Eventually my family realized that the wave of allergies every Christmas season could be prevented with an artificial tree, and our old tradition went the way of the horse and buggy.
I never realized how much I missed the old way of doing things, until Molly invited me to go Christmas tree hunting with her family this year. It went something like this:
One cool thing we saw at the farm was a helicopter moving bundles of trees. It blew my mind that operating a helicopter could be cost effective in Christmas tree production. Apparently people pay a ton of money for a fresh tree in California or something?
The stakes were high as we wandered through rows of pine trees under a cloudy Oregon sky. For the last 25 years, Molly's mom and her brother David had completely dominated the tree finding competition. Never once had Molly actually been the winner, and she was determined to reverse her fortunes!
Luckily, the tides were turning in her favor!
When Molly realized she had actually found the tree, she ran off to find someone to help us cut it down, and it started raining cats and dogs.
As we hunkered down in the shelter of a nearby barn, I was extremely fascinated by this industrial Christmas tree wrapping device!
In the end, the search was well worth the effort. Now whenever, I visit Molly's house, I have this colorful friend to remind me of our latest adventure...
