One of our favorite traditions is to go Christmas Tree hunting over the Thanksgiving weekend. It is fun to head out of town and get away from the city. We then spend hours walking through the trees looking for the one perfect tree still standing! Quite frequently we're walking through the snow, other times it's been windy. But regardless of the weather we always make it a fun time together with the family.
One of the biggest challenges to finding the perfect tree is to properly gauge the actual size of the tree. With nature as a back drop anything can appear small. We've had a couple of experience where we found a tree that was bigger than it first appeared! It can be a challenge to fit a large tree into a small living room.
The other big challenge is to find a perfect tree, one that is straight and tall, full (but not to full) and not loop-sided, with a single stem (many branch into multiple tops) for the star on top. Michelle has the eye for these trees and can spot one a mile away, as long as we can get inside of that mile radius! So we'll spend time driving through the wilderness enjoying the time together.
The final trick is that you need to have a Christmas Tree permit! This year there are only 400 permits being sold to the public (I'm not sure where the Christmas Tree wholesalers get permits). I just bought our permit and there are only about 80 left (and today is "opening" day for permit sales). If you're going to get a permit you need to be at the office in Spanish Fork first thing in the morning or you'll end up waiting until next year. The address is 44 W 400 N, Spanish Fork.
