When you think about it, it’s kind of weird to hang dead trees on your living tree, right?
Ryan and I make it a point every year to cut down our Christmas tree from one of the neighboring national forests.
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Christmas tree cutting on the Mogollon Rim
If you’ve never done it, I definitely recommend it! Permits for the Coconino sell out within hours every year, but permits on the nearby Kaibab linger for a bit.
Ryan spends a lot of time outdoors for work, and he’s gotten in the habit of pinning potential Christmas trees on his map throughout the year so we can come back for them during the cutting season, which is great because it saves me a lot of hiking.
We’ve alternated between both the Coconino and the Kaibab for the last handful of years. This year, we snagged a permit for the Mogollon Rim Ranger District of the Coconino (the district Ryan’s Hotshot crew is based off of) and while we haven’t had a chance to go snag our tree yet due to the ongoing move, we’re hoping to finally get out this weekend.
Earlier this year, Ryan finished one of his projects he’d been planning to do for a while: Christmas tree cookie ornaments!
Ryan really wanted me to emphasize that these are HIS creation, not mine. This is me doing that.
We saved cross sections of each of our previous Christmas trees, and Ryan made them into ornaments using a little metal screw ring and my wood burning tool.
We’re going WAY back in the vault here, but it’s the same tool I used to make some seasonal Thanksgiving signs years and years and years ago.
The original tool I used was discontinued quite some time ago, but this one looks pretty close in function and price.
Every year I get Ryan a Christmas ornament commemorating some of our travels together (Vegas, Chicago, India), and now he makes me a tree cookie ornament.
Trees on trees, literally.
I’m excited to add more of these to our growing collection. Here’s hoping we can put some home renovation work aside for a bit and get out and grab our tree before it’s too late.
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