Our Christmas Tree

Several years ago, we were listening to an audiobook and I was concerned that it may be too slow for my very active little boy. Not only did he listen, but it turned out to be one of my son's favorite books, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. 

 This book talks about a boy surviving in the wilderness and it truly spoke to my son. Every year since listening to this book, he has requested "Wilderness Skills" as his chosen school elective. This is a broad topic and has included many things such as foraging for food where we study edible plants and emergency medical management where he has prepared emergency kits for our vehicles and home. This year, the his curriculum includes the book Bush Craft 101 by Dave Canterbury. 

In this book is a section discussing the use of axes and how to fell trees. This led to our 10-year-old volunteering to cut down our family Christmas tree. When we moved, we discovered a small cedar tree located in a place that would probably have to be moved in the future and had joked that we would simply use it as our Christmas tree. It turns out that this joke was a really good idea that our son would not let us forget!

Here's a short video: 

He did a great job! His sister helped him drag the tree to the house. 

The tree turned out to be bigger than we thought so we had to alter our plans as to where the tree would be placed in the house. Good thing that we now have a room with tall ceilings!

We have a beautiful Christmas tree, our son has demonstrated a skill with confidence and we saved a few dollars in the process. Win, Win, Win!