Yesterday I went to a tree farm in Eatonville, Washington with my son Josh and his wife Lexy to cut a fresh Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun as we surveyed a large number of trees, looking for the perfect one, which turned out to be a chubby Nordmann fir tree. With a bowsaw in hand, Josh felled the tree and we loaded it into his pickup truck.
We set up the tree and decorated it later in the evening as we listened to Christmas music. In the Episcopal church that I attend, we are just beginning the Advent season and won’t be singing Christmas songs for a while. For me, though, it certainly is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
How nice that you could decorate the tree together. A beautiful way to launch the season.
Sadly, my adult boys aren’t the least bit interested in the tradition.
What a beautiful Xmas tree and nicely decorated too. You will surely have a wonderful christmas this year.
Wonderful, Mike! Such fun family time.
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
It really has been a wonderful, relaxing time.
What fun! Glad you got to be part of it, MIke 🙂
I was mostly a spectator, but it was fun to be included. Josh and his wife are both in the Army, so I never quite know where they will be stationed.
What a nice way to spend the holiday, Mike. I wasn’t aware that you were a family man. Handsome son.
It’s a little complicated, Steve, but Josh considers me to be a parent and I have helped to raise him since he was in the 8th grade–he is now 33 and is a Captain in the Army.
How nice of you to give him guidance. You must be very proud of what he has accomplished.
Thanks for bringing us a little into who you are… besides being the ‘bug guy’ of course.
We had natural Christmas trees while we were in Omaha but we’re much more Spartan now, here in New Zealand. However, we still pull out the stops, decorate, and celebrate wonderfully together. Your tree is sure a beaut.
What a lovely day. Thanks for sharing this with us, Mike.
Very nice Mike! Glad you could be with your family for the holidays!
Lovely photos and wonderful for you to be spending this time with family.
A fun time and what a gorgeous place as evidenced by your first image across the pond! A “chubby” tree made me chuckle…no Charlie Brown trees on this lot! Wonderful to be enjoying family and making memories!
A person who appreciates Life, insects and all nature, does not feel bad or have problems of conscience for the fact of cutting down a beautiful tree in full growth?
Is this the spirit of Christmas?
I understand your question and admit that I personally use an artificial tree. That being said, I eat meat and use leather and wood products and I am conscious of the environmental consequences of some of my lifestyle choices. The tree that we cut down was grown on a tree farm in a way that I consider ecologically responsible, so I do not have a very large crisis of conscience about it.
It is still a dead tree… among many cut down with the same purpose. And that’s sad.
But I appreciate knowing you have an artificial one.
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