Traditions

Ever since my children were young, we have always had a White Pine for our Christmas tree. It became the default tree because we lived in VA at the time and you could drive out to the Blue Ridge and cut any White Pine on the hill for $12, so the price was right. Growing up in New England, Balsams were king, but here in VA they were unaffordable exotics at the time. It took me a few years to give up my longing for that scent of Maine woods, and to get over the fact that as soon as you hung an ornament on the branches it would disappear behind those long soft needles. It was as if it was a secret between you and the tree that you had decorated it at all. However, I was gradually being won over by the softness of the needles and how willing it was to hang on to those needles well past Christmas. A trick the Balsams could use to emulate. So my allegiance switched over time and now it is a White Pine or nothing.

But of course, living on Cape Cod these last 13 years has tested that allegiance, for although White Pines are one of the predominant pines of the Cape, they are rarely, if ever, sold as Christmas trees. Consequently we have logged many a mile tracking down the U-cut Christmas Tree Farm that might have one or two on the back acreage.

A tree that isn’t the popular choice can grow to some pretty impressive proportions over the years, so we have brought home trees that tested the limits of the ceiling, and might have better been suited for the town square. More often, of late, we seek the gumball size trees that are as wide as they are tall, another sign of being passed over by the trimmer.
There are times we have paid fairly exorbitant prices for them, when my thrill of finding a White Pine at a local Cape Cod Tree Farm was so evident that the wise merchant just had to up the price. And times when I managed to get them for free. A man was clearing his land of White Pines and offered them to anyone who would get them, so, what a banner few years they were. These trees had hardly been trimmed but featured bonus items like bird’s nests or bittersweet wrapped around them like natural garland.

But now, what ho! My youngest daughter went to school at VA Tech and now works in MD, so once again we have resurrected the tradition of finding the White Pine on the Blue Ridge hillside at a reasonable price. It meant some transportation issues, but if they can cut and bring them from Canada, then our little Escort could play the part and pile one inside on top of suitcases and presents and make it home by Christmas.


This year finds me in TN spending some time after Thanksgiving with my daughter’s family and just yesterday we headed off to cut their White Pine tree. Marvelous, a scene from Appalachia right within the Knoxville limits. All white pines, $4 a foot, with the most classic addition of a larger than life, Power Ranger, presiding over the whole affair. So, the torch has been passed.

No doubt your tree, if you cut one, is a Fraser or Balsam but whatever kind it is, may it have worked its way into your family’s heart the way these White Pines have lodged in ours. December is here, let the playing out of traditions begin!