Our Tree Story

We headed up to the Matanuska Valley Moose Range after lunch. On our way, we nibbled on warm chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven.

We arrived at the Moose Range in about 45 minutes. It's only about 30 miles up the road from our house.

We were greeted by some of the resident moose. Stephen noticed one munching on some trees. We backed up to get a closer look and noticed the one was with a moose buddy. As the two trotted off into the spruce forest, we saw several others join them in their retreat up over a small hill.

While I love to see moose from the comfort (and safety) of my vehicle, I wasn't so fond of the idea of walking around their backyard in search of a Christmas tree. But we were there, and well, it is called a "moose range", so what did I expect?

We found a place to pull off the icy, unimproved road. And we set off down a snowmachine trail, keeping a watchful eye out for moose, as we browsed this natural "tree farm".

We haven't had fresh snow for a while. But it was particularly windy today. If the wind hadn't been blowing, it would have been pretty mild, given that we're in Alaska in December. I think the temperature was a few degrees above freezing. But the strong wind, dragged the feel of that temperature down into the teens. For that reason, we bundled up particularly well.

We walked for quite a ways looking at several potential trees. The forest consisted mostly of black and white spruce trees. The black spruce are particularly tall and scraggly, not super suitable for a living room Christmas tree. We figured the shorter trees which bear some resemblance to a fir tree must be the white spruce. We focused our hunt on this type of tree.

After looking over several possible "keepers", we found one that we all agreed was just right. Here we are standing near our tree.

Stephen and Donald handled the task of cutting it down. It didn't take very long. Alicia played with her sled and Tess took some photos of the process.



Here's Stephen as Alaska Man, holding his trophy tree...








We were soon on our way back to the truck with our tree. Once we arrived back at the truck, we ate candy canes and sipped piping hot cocoa. It only took a short time to warm ourselves. Then we headed for home, hoping the whipping wind wouldn't shred our frozen spruce tree.

Stephen and Donald trimmed the tree and put it in the stand. They did this on the back deck. Then they realized the tree was standing about 2 feet taller than the indoor ceiling, so they trimmed it some more. Tipping it on its side, they carried it into the house and stood it up... only to discover it was still at least 6" too tall. More trimming. Then it was time for some tree trimming of a different sort.

Alicia May was very helpful with decorating the tree. But it became apparent early on that she had about 3 favorite branches on which she would have happily hung every ornament we had. She was tutored a little in the art of tree trimming. So in the end, there is even distribution of ornaments, mostly about 3 feet off the floor. :o)

The fully decorated tree reminds me of trees of old. It's not pre-lit. It's no where near symmetrical. It has long branches sticking out at wild angles and lengths. It has big gaps of no branches at all. And the side nearest the window is decidedly flat... But we find it most lovely and festive. And we enjoy it most because we found it waiting for us in the woods.