Christmas Memory

Today we went and cut down our Christmas tree. We have not bought a pre-cut tree for years. They dry out so fast. It was cold. 32*. But the sun was shining so it was a fun time. There have been many years where it is just miserable out. But we go, get wet, muddy, and sappy.
One year, and only one year, we bought a permit and went up into the mountains and cut down a tree. It was Christmas 1983. Katie was not quite 2 years old. Robert and I went up into the Cascades and looked for a tree to cut down. I'm sure we must have left Katie with my mom. So off we went. It was cold and there was snow. It was a lot harder than you would think to go into the mountains for a tree. When you go there in the Summer you see so many trees and you think..."Now that would make a great Christmas tree!" We tromped around in the snow until we found the perfect tree. And then we killed it. Yep. Cut that sucker down and took it home. Robert got it into the stand, which I'm sure took a long time, and maybe a trip or two to the store :-)
Then we took it into the house. Or tried too anyway. It was too big. It was huge. We thought it was perfect when it was up in the mountains, out in the large space sitting in the snow. But when we tried to get it into the house, not only was it way too tall, but it was way to wide. Robert trimmed a lot off the top to be able to get it in the living room, but that did nothing for the width of it. It took up most of the living room! I started to decorate it and then realized that the branches were too thin and weak to support most of the ornaments. So now not only was it too tall and too wide, but when you hung an ornament on it the branches looked straight out of a Charlie Brown Christmas!
I tried to find a picture, but for some reason there isn't one.
You will just have to use your imagination!