getting the christmas tree

greg and morgana were starting out from marlborough, connecticut, so chanda and i had to meet them in new haven in order to pick out our christmas tree from the tree farm in easton, connecticut. i didn't think i would make a 9:07 train when we had to feed the cats, walk the dog and make sandwiches and be out of the house by 8:15 am. but we did!

whenever we take the train to long island, we leave from penn station. all my life i've been arriving at and departing from . . penn station! it's not a pretty place. but grand central station . . is beautiful! what a difference for all those connecticut and upstate commuters! it's not fair!

the constellations on the ceiling . . 

the train comes out in harlem and it's a great ride into connecticut. i still love looking out of the window.

compared to penn station, all stations are beautiful! here we are at union station in new haven. (there are so many union stations in the usa that i didn't even want to count them all. you can see a list of them here.)

the new haven station has a collection of train models. this was my favorite.

the "quaker" heavyweight passenger train! what a great name for a train.

they picked us up fifteen minutes after we arrived and an hour later we were at the tree farm. everything felt so fresh and misty. it felt good to be out in the car driving through the countryside.

we wound our way through many white concolor fir trees. it was morgana's turn to pick this year, and she likes the white firs, like i do.

we love their long needles, and white bark,

morgana had to run down to the beginning of the drive into the farm . .


chanda tried to interest us in a few spruce . . but we stuck with the fir.

all the white firs looked the same to me . . but not to m and c . . 

daddy has ideas on how to start sawing . . 

the suggestions were alright for a moment . . 

but only for a moment . .

still, it's good to have daddy around for when your knees are all wet from kneeling in the grass (notice how daddy doesn't get his knees wet).

chanda and i forgot our gloves today, but chanda didn't mind the sap and the needles.

they had to take it all the way back up the road . . 

it's similar to seeing our neighbors carrying their trees from the stand on the corner.

we were all starving and were happy to have our lunch.

and we even had delicious hot chocolate to go with the gingerbread cookies.

the view from our picnic table. on weekends there are two oxen named pete and mike who stand in a pen by the picnic tables. they weigh over a 1000 pounds each.

i went with chanda to her dance class and then her violin lesson. meanwhile, greg and morgana straightened up the living room and put the lights on the tree.

it was peaceful to come home to.

of course chanda and i went through our usual angst right before we cut the tree down. it always feels so cruel to take it away from the mountains and the meadow and the sky and the grass . . but when it sits in it's stand in the apartment, it feels calm and christmas-like. there's always some sacrifice.

happy christmas time.