I'm so very, very fussy about my Christmas trees and so the family often left it up to me, to find one. We lived in the north, where the snow seems neverending and deep; picture if you will ploughing through the depths of snow and blazing a trail in the woods. It's the simple things, like hiking in the woods and finding a tree, that really make Christmas so special for me. One time, my husband, my youngest sister and I set out in my Dad's pickup to locate our tree. We wandered up and down back roads, trying to find what might be a good stand of trees so we could make a suitable choice. The snow wasn't as bad at that time of year as usual and we only had to slough our way through knee deep snow. After wandering around for what seemed like hours, I spotted this beautiful bushy tree, across this wide clearing. I deemed it just right, so they set to chopping it down, we didn't have a chainsaw along like some use, and our trusty axe was needed. Now it was time to trek back to the truck, with our tree in tow. We tied a long rope to the trunk of the tree and each of us was pulling it at various intervals. I crossed the field first, with my husband next and my sister closest to the tree, as we made our way back over the trail we made on the way in. Things seemed just fine, till we heard the crunch of ice breaking and the splash of the water as we had unknowingly crossed over a small pond or stream. Seems it could sustain our individual weights, but the weight of the tree caused the ice to crack and my sister ended up in freezing water to mid calf. We quickly turned around and rushed back to help my sister out and to rescue the tree. I got some real filthy looks from her, as it was my idea to cross that particular field where I had pointed out the tree. We rushed to get back to the truck, load the tree and get my sister inside so she could get her feet and calves warmed up. Seems we hadn't picked a good spot to get our tree after all, we had travelled down such an incline in the road that, the road was too steep and icy to allow us to return the way we had come. We ended up wandering around many twists and turns on the various backroads trying to find our way out. Have you ever noticed how trees don't look quite as big when viewed out in the open, 'cause that tree turned out to be rather large when brought into the house. It's fortunate my parents had a big home with cathedral ceilings. I don't think my sister would have gone along to get a new tree if that one hadn't fit!