'Tis The Season

Almost 30 years ago we bought and moved to two acres of an existing larger Christmas tree farm. We initially bought the property for the size of the house, a place to raise our family with lots of space to play outside and a sledding hill (no rational thinking on this one). We don't get snow very often, but when we do, it is a winter wonderland and we have the best spot in the neighborhood for sledding!

Since our property had over a thousand trees in a variety of sizes and species we found ourselves, with no choice, of being in the Christmas tree business. For the next eight years we would spend our weekends after Thanksgiving greeting friends, neighbors, families and dogs while they shopped for their special tree. It was fun to watch people walk around looking for the perfect Christmas tree, which doesn't really exist, except to the person who thinks it is the perfect one! It was especially fun to watch the children and dogs run through the rows of trees laughing and having a good time. Everyone seemed to be so happy and carefree. We would give out cookies, coffee, hot chocolate, dog biscuits and enjoy visiting with all of the people. It was a wonderful and busy time in our lives and the best part was being together as a family doing something that made people happy. I am not sure that my children would agree on this, but they turned out pretty well!

We enjoyed it while it lasted, but we would never choose to do this again. It was a lot of work loading, hauling and cutting all of those tree and especially exhausting in the cold rainy weather. We were busy not only at Christmas time, but all through the year with mowing, shearing, fertilizing, replanting and everything else that goes into growing a tree. We eventually cleared many of our fields and made gardens and open spaces, but left several of the trees. We still have a few people who get a tree each year and a friend comes and cuts greens to make wreaths to sell at a local garden shop.  Nice to have a little of the Christmas spirit to enjoy without all of the work!

I have always loved trees and have learned more than I ever thought I would about them over the years. It has been the perfect place for a pine needle basket maker to live! I get inspired by the trees everyday!

I made my "'Tis The Season" pine needle basket using dyed dark green and natural brown Longleaf pine needles, dark green artificial sinew, old vintage red truck pottery connector bead and petrified wood slice set in resin base. This basket measures 6-1/2" x 6-1/4" x 2-1/2".

ENJOY!