January 24, 2007
I am very excited!!!!
We have finally taken down our Christmas tree! This is early for us. One
year we kept our tree up until March 1st. Now before you laugh or think
we are crazy, you need to understand what it takes to get our tree up
and then, down again.
Our Christmas tree is cut to 16 1/2 feet. For years we have gone up into
the Baker Snoqualmie forest tree cutting area and cut down our
 tree.
We buy a $10 tree permit at the ranger station on the way up . The
permit is good for a 10 foot tree and very often we would go up, cut the
tree and drive down in the dark so the rangers would not see we had more
than 10 feet. After several years we really started feeling guilty over
that, so we would purchase two $10 permits and that justified the extra
length of our tree.
In the mid 80's we began going into the forest on the weekends and as
each year went by, more and more crazy people seemed to come up there as
well. It was like the crazy people saw our car and said, "Oh yea, there
goes the Adams' family, going to get their tree. Oh, yea, let's go up
right behind them. They always bring a bunch of cookies."
So, we tried a week day, but this was before we had a cell phone, and I
was too worried we might get stuck or lost, and the rangers weren't up
there on the weekdays. I worried so much about this that the winding
roads started making me feel sick. I had to start taking Dramamine. I
would end up sleeping too much and before I knew it we had the tree and
were on the way down.
We switched to Sunday hoping most people would be in church.
One snowy Sunday a caravan of four cars on the icy roads below us became
stuck, none of them had chains. None of the cars were four wheel drive.
A family got out of one of the cars: a father, a mother, three children
and what looked like a grandmother. The father was wearing a suit, no
jacket, and the girls and older women had on dresses. One was wearing
high heels. We realized the church crowd had found us. The rangers had
to push them all the way back down the mountain, and I am not kidding .
Then everything iced up and a truck almost went over the edge of the
cliff. We decided we could no longer go up in the forest and cut our
tree.
So, we snooped around and found the Holiday Tree farm. But, it isn't
your normal tree farm. You can't go there without four wheel drive and
the road takes you into and over the creek and way up into the foothills
where you park by a little shack. Then with your hand saw you have to
hike up into the hills to find your tree.
 We
always have to hike really high because my husband cannot live without a
skinny noble fir. After we cut the tree we have to hike way back down
carrying the tree, and that is usually when we all get a little cranky,
but at the shack you can get hot cider and that helps. The trees last
forever and ever and that is why I can leave it up so long.
The other reason we leave it up so long, is that it takes forever to
take it down and nobody is real excited about spending a whole Saturday
or Sunday messing with that.
Putting the tree up actually happens very fast. After we bring it
inside, we lay it on top of a chair at the midway point. Then Bill puts
lights on the top and halfway down. I put a huge bow on top. The kids
and I put on the decorations from the top to halfway down. Then we stand
it up in a huge bucket of water, tie it off to the railing. Voila! Big
Tree!
Then we spend a week and a half getting the rest of it decorated. The
reason that takes so long is Bill puts about 25 strands of white lights
on the tree. And we use over a thousand decorations.
My siblings and parents and I don't exchange gifts. We exchange
decorations; lots and lots of handmade decorations. My husband and
children and I exchange an ornament each year and have for almost twenty
years. Then there are lots of years of decorations before that, too.
Everything is numbered and then written on paper. So, at any time you
can look at an ornament, say, number 543, "Oh yea, that is the little
doily that my sister Kaks turned into an angel and put blue glass beads
all over it. I love that one!"
We are not crazy. We just like ornaments....
So, anyways, I guess I wanted to tell you all of that because uhm, I'm
not sure!
I think I am just so excited to have the tree down I had to tell
somebody.....
Now guess what! The next time you check the news I am really going to
tell you about my jewelry and the studio. Well, first I should tell you
about the glass pond and Blue Sierra and the heron who came up on my
deck to get out of the rain.
THEN, I will tell you about the studio.
Linda Lou
Live for color and the rhythm it creates
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