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Wild Christmas Tree Permit

Tidbits About Us

Tree Hunt Traditions in the National Forest

November 26, 2017

Remember four years ago when we thought we’d try a new family tradition? Lucie was a tiny little two-month old, and we went hunting for a wild Christmas tree in Mount Hood National Forest.

I don’t want to be too confident, but I’d say we found the recipe for our new version of holiday cheer. Though, spoken as an ever-learning parent, I’d also say check in next year to see how it actually pans out…with a toddler.
– Bethany, 2013

We made it twice with the ritual [2013 and 2014], then bagged it the next two years in favor of easier pickings at my family’s Christmas tree farm (when I was pregnant with Marion [2015] and then juggling two under three [2016]).

This year with the girls a little older (and with a borrowed pickup from my parents!), we decided to trek to the mountain again. Continue Reading…

BabyOregonian, Oregon, Tidbits About Us

A Wild Christmas Tree Grows in Oregon: New Traditions for Our Little Family

December 17, 2013

It sounded like a romantic notion, bundling up the 2.73 month old and venturing into Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest to cut down a wild Christmas tree…but how did it actually go, you ask?

A December freeeeeezing snap wrapped our city in a bone-chilling cold (a dozen degrees Fahrenheit is pushing it for temperate Portland), but the skies were filled with sunshine and the Saturday roads were clear, so we borrowed a pickup, threw in a handsaw, packed a bag of dried fruit, jerky, and chocolate and a thermos of cocoa and set out as a little family of three toward the village of Zigzag, Oregon near the timberline of Mount Hood.

All we needed was a Christmas tree permit and a Christmas tree.

Seems straightforward, right? Continue Reading…