Stephanie, Joanne and I, like other Christmas tree farmers, tend to focus on the imperfections of the trees we grow, but the truth is the quality of real Christmas trees used today is much improved.
There was a time when families around here would go out into the local fields and woods and select a wild-grown Eastern Red Cedar tree. Those trees were fragrant, but dried out fairly quickly and were usually pretty scraggly in comparison to trees grown commercially today.
One year, when my brother Rob and I were just kids, we went with our older cousin Bill McLucas Jr. to find our tree.
(Pictured below: bow-style Poulan chain saw on display at Inman Farm Heritage Days showgrounds)
We took the McLucas’ tan and grey 
Poulan chain saw, which had a big bow-style blade and was way too heavy for either of us kids to tote very far.
We roamed the woods in and around the property now occupied by the St. Gabriel subdivision, but the perfect tree eluded us.
Finally, in a clearing that seemed miles from home but in reality was just off Clark Road, we found the perfect tree. Bill sawed down the big cedar, and we began our return trip to his truck.
It was a major struggle for Rob and me to carry the heavy gray saw, and dragging the massive tree was out of the question for us. Bill had it rough, but we finally got the tree – and the saw – back to his truck.
Once we got the tree to our house, we discovered – as many of our customers do today – that our tree was too tall even for the high ceilings of our den. After some major trimming, the tree was up, and it was the centerpiece of a great Christmas celebration.
I have no recollection of any gift I got that year, but I cherish the memories of that afternoon spent acquiring the family tree.
Years later, I wanted Steph to experience cutting a cedar tree from the wilds.
To make things easier, I spent a couple of years pruning some prospective trees, many of them growing on the fence row next to McBride Road, near my parents’ home.
As our Christmas tree season wound down that year, Steph and I set out one evening to find her tree.
When we got to my parents’ property we found that most of the trees I had been pampering had been pilfered by tree thieves.
We turned around and drove back home where there were still pines planted near the cemetery and a handful of pretty cedars as well and there were still enough left for her to select one.
Steph had been eyeballing this one tree right off the dirt road (growing where the entrance to the tree farm is now) since the start of the selling season.
Reluctantly, I cut it down for her, regretting taking away one of our prettiest cedars on the farm.
She cut it down herself, as I was silently regretting taking away one of the prettiest cedars on the farm, and we put it in her bedroom where she and Joanne decorated it.
That first night, our entire house was filled with the aroma of fresh-cut cedar. But the thrill of the tree was short-lived. The “aroma” of the cedar was more than Joanne and Steph could stand.
Some time during that first night, Joanne had enough and tossed the tree – stand, lights, ornaments and all – out in the front yard.
Not all Christmas tree stories have happy endings, but our sincere hope is that people who come to our tree farm leave with fond memories that will last them a lifetime.
(Pictured right from L-R: London, Tristan & Morgan Bowden in the fields at Minter’s Farm this Christmas tree season. Photo courtesy of Shannon Bowden)
(Pictured below: The Maldonado family from Senoia is enjoying the time-honored tradition of dragging their Christmas tree, a Blue Ice, out of the field at Minter’s Farm)