by Leslie Cox; Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013

I love Christmas! It is the only part of winter I do love. And the week before Christmas Eve is when I start to get really excited about Christmas.

I know I am lucky. My sister, brother and I had a mom who worked hard to make Christmas special for us. The house was always decorated in keeping with the season. Christmas cards were written and received. The aroma of Christmas baking filled the house almost every day for at least a week. The albums of Christmas music were played on the stereo every night during dinner.

One very special event was the Christmas tree. As a family, we made an annual trek into the woods, armed with the proper permit, in search of the “perfect” Christmas tree. This outing was always celebrated with a picnic of sandwiches, thermoses full of delicious hot chocolate and lots of Japanese oranges.

It usually took us the better part of a day before just the right tree was pinpointed. Lots of walking. But, for me, that was the one of the very best parts. The trek out in the woods, eyes peeled in the hope of spotting that absolutely perfect tree.

This was no small feat as the spot where the tree resided in full regalia in our living room had a 12 ft (3.7 m) high ceiling. Believe me, it was quite the job dragging the big tree to the car. We must have looked a hoot…Dad at the heavy end of the tree and us three kids spread out along its length, trying to hold up our share of the load and not step on the multitude of branches as we hiked out. And hoisting it up into place on the roof racks! Now that was always an undertaking!