I couldn't help it.
It was a cold, rainy/misty day and the only day I had available to drive the hour out to the tree farm. The gentleman farmer kindly offered to drive me in the pick-up out to the back forty, where he said the "good" trees were. We had both agreed that we preferred the trees with their natural habit, rather than those that are pruned perfectly.
I was grateful for the ride as he had to employ the 4 wheel drive to get through the mud. This has been the wettest year on record up here in northern Ohio, so dry patches of hard ground simply do not exist. We bumped along for quite a ways before he finally parked his rig. He was correct- this was where the "good" trees were. Blue spruce, Fraser fir, noble fir, tall and majestic and fit for a grand villa, small and straggly and fit for Charlie Brown and everything in between. The first (I know, how silly!) tree I fell in love with. Open, narrow and with "character"- it yelled out my name. I, of course, pretended that I didn't hear it and trudged onward.
After perusing probably fifty trees, at least, I spotted one with clusters of cones at the top of the tree. How cool was that! Decision made. Its size was exactly what I was looking for. Mr. Farmer/Tree Man got out the saw and cut it down. Quick and easy. He's done this a few times before!
We made our way back to the truck, which also happened to be where the first tree stood. Right next to the truck. Because the tree that we had cut was so inexpensive, I decided then and there that I would simply purchase both trees and use one for boughs around the house. They both fit into the minivan, so off I went.
When Mr. B returned home that evening and helped me remove the tree from the car, he only expressed mild surprise at the sight of two trees. What I didn't expect was when we put up the first one with all of the cones at the top, he suggested also putting up the second tree with it. Would it even fit? We had to wait until the next day to test his theory as we needed one more tree stand.
You can see the results. It did and we both loved it. Only one tree received the tree topper; the second tree, we decided, already had its own cone topper. The kids are returning home today- I just know the eyes will be rolling when they walk in and see the twin trees standing closely side by side.
Sometimes you just do what you have to do.
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