A Christmas Tree Story pt 1

(my family's tree- Christmas Morning)

I've always loved going out to pick Christmas trees with my family every year, but since my family moved to Utah about six years ago, our trees have become especially significant. My grandpa owned quite a chunk of land on Monroe mountain, near Richfield, ( a couple hours south of salt lake) and he built a cabin there, and every summer of my whole life we would all go spend a week there as a family. It was incredibly secluded, and I loved spending all day out exploring the woods, meadows, and streams.

Any time I've ever been asked in an exercise to imagine a favourite place, a haven, or somewhere peaceful, I've always happily conjured up the memories of being out by that cabin, taking in the mountain scenery. A friend of my Grandpa's sells Christmas trees, and got permission to cut a small amount from our land every year, and in exchange, my Grandma Bagley and all her children get a free Christmas Tree straight from Grandpa's land. I love the subtle sense of wildness these trees have- they are never symmetrical, they are never perfectly bushy or necessarily commercially desirable. The trunks are often crooked and the branches often much more sparse than the average farmed tree, but we love the distinct look and what it reminds us of. And the lovely smell of pine- our pines!





(Grandma Bagley's tree- later Christmas Morning)

I really like being able to see details of the trunk and the branches, and I like to think of where the tree came from, and that we have a bit of that mountain here in our home. This year we got an extra tree to prop next to Grandpa's headstone, in Millcreek Cemetary, so he can have a piece of the mountain with him. It's even lit up and powered by solar panels, so at night it twinkles with the cemetery luminaries, a neighborhood Christmas tradition.


(and here's just some fun family scenes:)









(this cute little hood and vintage red dress were Christmas presents from Ryan. so excited!)