Finding the perfect Christmas tree... in the desert

I've never gone hunting for a Christmas tree, and certainly didn't think the tradition would start here in the desert. But I was wrong! The last few years we've gotten a firewood permit, which allows us to go up into the hills of Nevada and cut down dead trees for firewood. It can be somewhat hard to find enough to fill the truck, but last year we were lucky and found an area hat had burned a couple years before. We were left with the branches others had left behind, but we're still heating our house with it.


Christmas tree shopping in the desert! 


This year we looked into getting a Christmas tree permit, and for $5 we found that you're able to drive up to the federal BLM land and scout out a tree. We were looking for juniper or pinion pine. Driving along the dirt roads it's nothing at all like I'd imagined Christmas tree hunting would be like-- there was no hiking through a snowy forest in search of that perfect tree. In fact, it's 99% rock and sagebrush. But here and there, are scrubby little trees. And our perfect tree. Pinions are not the typical Christmas tree-- they are squatty and round, and the needles are pointy and poke you. They don't grow up tall, but rather in a bush shape. However, they do get somewhat triangle-shaped at a certain stage in their lives, and this also happens to be the Christmas tree stage.

From the truck, these trees seemed to be about 2-feet tall. It wasn't until getting out of the truck and walking around a bit that we realized that most are actually about 4-5 feet. Perfect! 


The perfect tree

We found one that was sort of Christmas-tree shaped, and Brandon was very eager to use his new ax. It took him all of 3 minutes to have it taken down. I did feel kind of bad... it's not like these desert hills above the dump are covered in foliage. I guess they do pose some fire danger and that may be a reason why the BLM allows residents to hack them down.


Family photo with the tree
It was pretty easy to carry that thing back to the truck. The hard part was driving down the steep hills in the loose rocky soil, but the truck really had no problem. When we got it home, putting the ornaments on was also a challenge-- as the trees needles almost requires gloves! 


Fits right in. 


The tree fit perfectly on the coffee table, up and out of reach of the crawling baby. We used just a few ornaments and about three strings of lights. Brandon had the great idea to fill a glass star we had with lights and hang it from the ceiling so it looks like it's on the top of the tree. I think it turned out beautifully! Maybe next year we can have some snow along with it, or go over closer to Tahoe and get a lodgepole or some other more traditional tree. I do have to say though, that our house smelled REALLY strongly of pine for two weeks-- as as of today, the day after Christmas, that thing hasn't lost one needle!


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