Adventure with Alex

Finding and cutting my own Christmas tree has been something I’ve wanted to do since I first watched the National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. The scene where Clark Griswold leads his family out into the frozen wilderness to find the perfect tree while his daughter goes hypothermic from the eyes down, only to realize after discovering the perfect 30 foot monster that they forgot their saw, is a long time favorite.

Yesterday Michelle and I decided for Alex’s 2nd holiday season we would start a similar tradition with our family. Alex and I hadn’t hit the trail in awhile, as we were waiting for a very seasonally important piece of clothing to arrive.

THE NORTH FACE INFANT LIL’ SNUGGLER DOWN SUIT

We had looked at some of the insulated infant/toddler suits available at some of the big box stores but the quality did not impress. Most had cheap synthetic insulation and stiff nylon shell fabric both outside and in. THE NORTH FACE INFANT LIL’ SNUGGLER DOWN SUIT is insulated with 550 fill goose down, is lined with a much softer nylon, and sports 20D polyester ripstop fabric with DWR (durable water repellent) finish to shed light moisture and protect the down. While the size chart would have put us in the 18 month size we opted for the 24 month size in hopes of getting two full winters of use out of it.

Prepared for colder temps we loaded the car with the necessary tree cutting, and hauling, supplies…

Kid carrier, snow suit, sled, gloves, rope, and saw

Off we drove to get a tree cutting permit from the USFS Saco Ranger District office on the Kancamagus Highway.

Saco District USFS Office

I chatted with the ranger about good hunting grounds for trees while Michelle & Alex checked out some of the exhibits.

Exhibits in the Saco District USFS Visitor Center

We paid our $5 permit fee, looked over the rules & regulations, and headed west on the Kanc until we found a logging road we thought looked promising.

Ready to go

It had been over a month since Alex had been in his carrier and he seemed pretty excited to go on a new adventure. THE NORTH FACE INFANT LIL’ SNUGGLER DOWN SUIT fit him well, with room to grow. We headed up the logging road eyeing every fir/spruce grove with energetic enthusiasm… we reached a large clearing with promising trees close at hand…

Somewhere off the Kanc…

While it may look like there are plenty of beautiful Christmas trees in the background we started running into some issues at this point. How could we choose? Is this one better than that one? How about over there? Let’s keep hiking, there might be a better one a little further in…

This is what I had in my mind…

This went on for a couple hours. Alex started to loose interest…

Sound asleep…

As noon came and passed I realized I hadn’t planned for this to be a full day outing. I had assumed we would pluck a tree in no time. Our collective indecisiveness was starting to get in the way of a beautiful day to be out hiking, and we decided we would not find a tree in this fashion. We needed to recon, to research. Could we even properly identify a spruce from a fir? Next year we’ll go on some tree scouting hikes… we’ll find the right one when not limited by time, and grumbling stomachs…

We returned to the car, somewhat defeated, but happy to be out hiking as a family, and drove over to the place we found our tree last year… our local American Legion post…

American Legion Post 46

I’ve got to admit I like buying a tree here, knowing they use the funds to support local vets & families… but next year we will try the old-fashioned way again. And maybe we’ll avoid any Griswold style shenanigans!

How about you? Have you ever cut your own tree from the woods? If not do you buy one from the same place, year after year? Or do you have one of those practical fake trees? Leave a comment and let me know!