YUP! I imagine this will be the mission of many folks this weekend - as searching for the perfect tree commences! Many peoples will gather and pile into cars and head to the country or the tree lot in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Others will be on a different mission as they visit dark scary basements and storage places to search and dig out the tree!

This is a MISSION that is possibly being started or being executed as in many previous years. They say a Mission should not be put into motion on an empty stomach....so maybe start with a hearty pancake and bacon breakie or coffee and cinnamon buns. But no matter what you eat, make this first part of the mission - as it will make the search by far more successful. Please also note the appropriate Tree HUNT attaire! Vintage Brochure. ;0

I spoke already about Blue Christmas, and when I was growing up I can remember searching the tree farm for the Best Blue Spruce and then later on the NOBLE fur. Our joke when growing up was the tree had to be taller than us and my Dad. So our tree usually was over 6 feet. One year I remember it being even bigger as we had vaulted ceilings and I can remember it hitting the second floor balcony......or I could have just imagined it being that I was young! Like the hill as a child that seemed so steep to ride my bike on in later years was just a wee incline! Ahhh the perspective of it all.

As children that was our family tradition, going to the tree farm finding the best one....and my Dad digging it up! Followed by hot chocolate and a hot dog, and sometimes a pony ride if the farm had them. It was a real novelty to get the tree, tie it up or squeeze it in the trunk (boot!). Followed by its arrival at the house, where we would have to go inside first so we could all see it come in together! Sooo funny and exciting at the same time. And my Mum would guide in the tree and shout out to 'mind the ceiling'! Then after the holidays we would plant it in the garden......now when we go back to the auld house - we are stunned and proud to see how big they have grown. Then we talk about the adventures of hunting those trees.......what shenanigans it was! If anything my childhood years were full of shenanigans and laughter, cherished always.

Later in life we still carried this HUNT out as teens and young adults - but not to the tree farm. To the tree lot or a U-cut place, where again the novelty was it HAD to be bigger than my youngest sister and taller that me. We would joke that we were the Little Women of three who came a wassailing! I remember one year we had to get a tree and it was dark and late....but we still walked through the fields in the dark to cut the perfect one! We never wanted a tiny Charlie Brown tree.....so bloody hell that meant the tree was still always over 6 feet! Changed days now I retreat to the storage, shove and balance boxes to pull out decorations. Followed by untangling branches, lights and of course rum n' eggnog! It may not now be a LIVE tree but my heart is alive with the memories of all the shenanaginas of Hunts gone by and with new ones in the works!

Good Luck on your Mission,

Cheers, Jacqueline xox