One of my favorite things about living in Upstate New York is the Christmas season. It is so festive, everyone covers their house with a million Christmas lights, you see cars with big pines strapped to the top every day in December, and you get to decorate your house inside and out with cinnamon scented pine cones, deep green pine boughs, and red velvet bows.
This is the second Christmas me and my fiance have spent in our apartment, and we picked out a real Christmas tree both times. It is really a process, you have to make sure you have rope, a saw, and a strong Christmas tree stand, venture out in what is usually inclement weather (it was pouring rain this year!), pick up a bunch of trees lying in the snow (or mud) getting sap all over your hands and probably other places too, then lug it back to the car, strap it on the top, drive home hoping it won’t fall off, lug it into the house, saw off a chunk on the bottom so the tree will absorb water, get it situated in the stand so it doesn’t fall over, and then adjust it a million times and water it every few hours in the first two days. Well I hope I didn’t make that sound too terrible, because something about all this work is so much fun, and even the difficulties that inevitably happen get me in the Christmas spirit somehow!
Here are some pictures of my adventure this year. We actually strapped the tree to the car through the windows, only to realize that we could not open the doors. All in the rain! It was something I will never forget and made it all the more worthwhile when we finally got it home.
Park and Division 