boughs
Our tree has just come into the house. Cut this morning, a nine-foot Douglas fir, it has all the odour of the winter forest, and its boughs are so green and lush that I’m almost tempted to say, “Let’s leave it naked this year.” A paradox — to dress an evergreen in baubles and stars? Little ceramic birds? To remind it of the world it’s been taken from, to give us green through the darkest days? No living bird will settle on these boughs again. No snow will accumulate on the needles, no cones will form. Tomorrow we’ll pull out the boxes of decorations and place them on every branch, against the trunk, the one special star on the top (which had to be trimmed to fit into our house). For now, I want to stand on the edge of the room and look at its splendid undressed beauty.
Trees bring in the scent of the outdoors and they remind us too of moments when we sat by them, cut them for firewood, burned them gratefully all winter for their heat, brushed against them and ran our fingers along their various barks, reminded of them later as we raised resiny hands to our faces.
Remember “Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout” by Gary Snyder? (From Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems):
Down valley a smoke hazeThree days heat, after five days rainPitch glows on the fir-conesAcross rocks and meadowsSwarms of new flies.I cannot remember things I once readA few friends, but they are in cities.Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cupLooking down for milesThrough high still air.
Oh, the smell of trees! I wish ours had that fresh-cut forest smell. But then I’m not sure 9 feet would work in our house! I hope you enjoy the decorating. We’ve already accumulated so many ‘precious’ child-made decorations — it’s so special getting these little treasures out each year. Happy Christmas!
Sarah, there’s only one place in our house where a nine foot tree can go! And the boxes of decorations — yes, nothing is ever discarded so there are lots of angels cut out of wallpaper with macaroni glued on, lumpy stars cut out of baking clay, chains of coloured paper…Every one of them has a story attached or at least a small memory.