To Celebrate Christmas I Killed a Tree

I did have reservations about putting this trip on my list. Sure, I've purchased fresh-cut Christmas trees before, but I've never severed one from its roots. It's like having steak -- I eat beef but I've never killed a cow.




So here we go. Rob and I got a late start on our trip to the Mogollon Rim, leaving Phoenix close to 1 p.m. Rob was a good sport. He was drafted into this adventure because he had a truck and the tools (axe and saw) I needed to accomplish my mission -- killing a tree.


We pulled off the highway at Woods Canyon lake and were greeted by a parade of trucks and SUVs, all with trees tied on top. There were so many of them that I thought finding a tree would be easy. Wrong. This is the forest not a tree farm. True, there are plenty of pine trees in the Apache-Stigreaves forest, but most are Poderosa Pines, which are beautiful when they are mature and over 30 feet tall. However, under 10 feet they are like awkward adolescents, having thin, wobbly branches with tufts of long pine needles at the end. I truly believe they were the inspiration for Charles Shultz's for Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.

So we began our search but what we found instead of a Christmas tree was a family who had lost their way in the woods. They, too, were looking for a Christmas tree but found themselves lost, instead. We found them after they had wandered for an hour and a half, in the cold. Call it Karma, but if my being there was to help this family, adding this to my list was worth it. So we escorted them to the road and Rob gave them a ride back to their truck, which was another mile away.

Apparently, there are hazards in cutting down your Christmas tree. In fact, the U.S. Forest Service provides you with a long list of things you should bring along - food, water, blankets, warm clothes, matches, a flashlight, etc. However, none of these are much help to you when you are lost in the woods and they are in your car. Also, if you bring your dog, keep it on a leash. Another group we met had lost their dogs in the woods -- a black lab and a shitzu -- I hope they found them.

By our third stop, the sun was low in the sky and I had given up on finding an acceptable Christmas tree. I wasn't going to chop one down just to cross it off my list. As I stomped back to the truck in defeat, Rob called me over to a group of fir trees. There it was -- a (near) perfect Christmas tree. So I cut it down.

Like a hunter who had successfully bagged her prey, I felt triumphant as we dragged the tree back to the truck. But my glee was short-lived. Despite the bright lights and fancy ornaments that now decorate the tree in my home, I still can't help but feel a little bit guilty about cutting it down. Would I do this again? Probably not. I'll stick with my plastic, pre-lit Christmas tree next year.

Merry Christmas, everyone!