"There is nothing like a wild cut farm cedar tree for Christmas!
posted on
December 18, 2025
A hilarious tale from a farm Christmas long past.
"There is nothing like a wild cut farm cedar tree for Christmas!
Literally nothing like it. The smell is amazing the shape is always unique and the adventure that comes with it..... priceless.
This year was no different.
The first key to a good DIY farm Christmas Tree adventure is doing it last minute!
Check! We decided to do it on a Saturday without any preparation (like figuring out ahead of time which tree - growing wild in the fence rows - we would cut.
We also managed to start our adventure with less than an hour of daylight remaining in the day. So far so good.
After gathering up the boys (3 of them now), I grabbed the chainsaw, Mariah grabbed the baby and we all hopped in the truck.
After driving around the farm checking out various trees in all shapes and sizes we disembarked to take a closer look at a few.
Judah informed us they were all too small. Mariah and I felt we had found a pretty good one. As we all hiked back to the truck we heard a howl from Judah "save me from the pokeys!"
Then began the next phase of the adventure. Quill pulling......
Thankfully not from a porcupine but Judah had managed to walk through some sort of plant with a lot of long barbs that really liked his pants!
Well over 100 of them....
As the sun slowly set things began to get quite chilly and the patience of the two older boys (one rather recently de-quilled) was waning.
So we picked a compromise tree. It was time for the big moment.
I grabbed the chainsaw, pulled the cord a few times and it roared to life.
At least thats what it would have done in a normal story..... but our family and our stories are not very normal.
Haha instead the chainsaw sputtered and died. I checked the fuel level and to my dismay it was completely empty. No problem just grab a little fuel right.......
Well it was at home. I hadn't grabbed any to start because it would only take a second to cut the tree. Haha unfortunately I didn't have even a seconds worth of fuel.
Needless to say there was some disappointment in the ranks. Murmurings of cold and poked legs was growing into open rebellion over a perceived shortage of food (it had after all been almost 4 hours since the older boys had eaten ;)
But the mutiny was suppressed and we hopped back in the truck and raced home for fuel.
After a lightning fast refill that would have put competitors in timber-sports competitions to shame (probably) we raced back to the farm where we had found a tree.
Except now it was getting even darker... and upon further evaluation the previously picked tree was deemed unacceptable (at least we know where it is for next year ;).
So another tree was selected. Though there was discussion about its shape, I made a quick decision and decided we would cut it while we still had light and then discuss the finer points of its shape.
Having cut the tree it was discovered that it lacked branches of any kind on one side (owing to the fact it was growing in a clump of 3 other trees).
Always the problem solver, I suggested that we put the bald side in the corner at our house with the 3 good sides facing out. This compromise was quickly accepted owing in no small part to a lack of daylight, increasing cold, and a growing sense of hunger amongst those voting.
As I called the boys over to pose next to me with our tree......
....One last picture was accidentally snapped of the ground as my phone died. No other photographic devices had been brought along for the adventure so this moment of triumph remains photographically undocumented....
After arriving home, warming up, getting new pants without any pokeys in them and eating some supper, we all gathered together and decorated our one of a kind tree.
The smell of fresh cut cedar was amazing, the joy of telling stories about the ornaments as we placed them on the tree was heartwarming, and the memories of another family Christmas tree adventure are priceless.
