Every year at my mom’s we get an unusually huge tree. It’s a challenge getting the tree inside the house and up, but a spectacle once in and decorated. This year we got the largest tree we have ever had (12-feet tall by 13-feet wide). It almost didn’t make it in the house.

Normally, the tree we pick looks small outside and huge inside. This year the tree looked enormous before we cut it down. But in thirty years I have never been the voice of reason on Tree Day, so I excitedly supported cutting down the tree.

Once down, all of us pulling together couldn’t budge the tree. We tied a rope to the tree and a rope to the van and used the van to drag the tree on a trailer behind the van. Once home we lined the tree up with the door. Tied a rope to the tree again, ran the rope through the house, ran the rope out a window on the opposite side, tied the rope to the van and drove the van away from the house. The rope snapped three or four times, we broke the window, and the tree had only moved about and inch.

It was time to shave some of the tree. We removed the branches that were getting in the way and the tree came in with what seemed like ease. It took six of us and a rope and pulley system to stand the tree up. And then we saw the error of our ways. Having cut off large branches we had also cut out huge chunks of the tree. Out came the twine. We tied lower branched to high ones to reduce the gaps and screwed cut branches back on the trunk.

Fifteen strands of lights later and two trips to Home Depot to get more lights (after blowing strands by plugging too many into each other) it was 7:30pm and we were ready to decorate. Dinner was at 9:30. It was a great day. Life is best as a great adventure.

Here you can watch us drag the tree in. And here you can also watch us hoist the tree up.