A last minute Christmas Tree trip to Spithandle

Boy, did we leave it late this year. A full week later than usual, and less than a week before Christmas itself, we headed off to our usual haunt to collect our Christmas tree. By the time we got to Spithandle Nursery, where we routinely head for our locally-grown Christmas tree, the barn was bare:

It appears the pre-cut trees had been vanishing fast…

Never mind, we always pick our own from out in the fields, so off we headed.

Even there, the trees were a bit thin of the ground. It shouldn't have been a surprise, really. The family who run the place have been doing this for decades now — and they know how many trees they're going to need. Happily, there was one tree left that suited us.

Giving up on tree life

A confession: after years trying to keep the tree alive, we've given up. We just sawed it off this year, rather than put it through the misery of a slow death in our beach back garden. This caused some issues for our eldest, who was uncomfortable with the idea of picking a tree for death. Should we request a few large branches to hand up German-style next year? Perhaps. For now, she was prepared to let us chop down a tree and bring it home.

After all, the warmth of the barn, and the complimentary mince pies and drinks awaited…

Another pony-free year, alas, but at least the girls had goats to be entertained by.

After a rather grey day, the sun found its way through the clouds, just as we were bundling the netted tree into the car. We've been doing this for the best part of a decade now, and Christmas wouldn't be quite the same without it.