Choosing Our Christmas Tree
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to a local tree farm to pick out a Christmas tree. So a couple of weeks ago one afternoon, we headed to Highland Trees in Wausau, WI. A big winter storm had just gone through the night before so everything was covered in about a foot of snow. It made it a bit harder to choose a tree but it sure looked beautiful!
Since we have 10-foot ceilings in our house, we wanted to find about a 9-foot tree. Originally, we weren’t quite sure what type of tree we wanted. We were going back and forth between getting a Balsam Fir and a Fraser Fir.
Balsams are nice because they smell really good, they have a lot of branches, and have a rich, dark green color. Balsams are known for their strong, Christmas-y scent which makes them very popular. However, their branches are rather flimsy so they don’t hold ornaments as well.
Frasers, on the other hand, aren’t as strong smelling but they have very sturdy branches. They’re not as bushy as Balsams but the space between the branches actually makes it easier to hang ornaments.
Balsam fir
– Strong smelling
– Dark green color
– Full and bushy
– Flimsy branches
Fraser fir
– Strong branches
– Greenish/blueish color
– Not as full, more space between branches
– Doesn’t smell as good
Balsam fir
– Strong smelling
– Dark green color
– Full and bushy
– Flimsy branches
Fraser fir
– Strong branches
– Greenish/blueish color
– Not as full, more space between branches
– Doesn’t smell as good
When we arrived at the tree farm, we were leaning more towards getting a Fraser Fir but they ended up introducing us to a new type of tree: the Canaan Fir. This tree is a hybrid between a Balsam and a Fraser so you get the best of both worlds! The Canaan Fir has the smell of a Balsam yet the look and strength of a Fraser. How perfect is that?!
So that’s what we ended up choosing and we absolutely love it! We loaded it onto the truck (boy was it heavy!) and brought it home.
This was such a fun and festive day! In a blog post coming up, I’ll be sharing photos of it decorated!
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