Hunting for Our Christmas Tree

Here, they don't slap the Christmas tree up on December 1. Nope; the tree goes up a day or two before Christmas (which is celebrated in Austria on the 24th, NOT the 25th), is almost always a REAL tree, almost always ISN'T three stories tall, and is often taken down on January 6 (Epiphany, which I guess is one of the thousands of Catholic-church inspired holidays Austria has; I can't keep track of them all.)

We've passed a number of tree markets here in Vienna but the trees, having been cut days or maybe weeks earlier, aren't always so fresh-looking. So B asked around, called around, and finally we decided to drive an hour or so outside town to a tree dealer she'd discovered.

Found the place, finally, and pulled into the parking lot. Lots of trees there, but for different reasons they weren't right----too tall, too spindly, too thick, too short, no smell, the needles were too pointy. But no problem! One of the employees grabbed the pickup (which they DO drive in the countryside here, if not in Vienna) and off we went, outside the village to the place in the hills where the trees grow.

The road was steep and still filled with snow, so the guy switched to 4WD on the way up. There were the trees, awaiting their premature deaths. We asked the guy how long it takes a tree to grow to a height of 2 meters. "About six years," the guy said.

So we walked around and finally found a specimen we liked. The guy whipped out his chainsaw, cut it down, and threw it into the back of the truck.

Back in the village, I saw how they prepare trees for transport. 1) Stick it in a fiberglass tube about 3 feet long, trunk first. 2) Pull on the trunk and the tree goes through the tube, simultaneously 3) getting wrapped in a thin plastic net which compresses the branches together, so the tree is kind of the shape of an unopened pine cone.

While B supervised all this, I walked over to a little kiosk where I'd noticed customers and staff munching on stuff throughout our time there. "Do you have anything warm to drink?" I asked her. "Glühwein," she said, a warm spiced white wine. "Please deliver it unto me," I said. When I got ready to pay, she wouldn't take my money, so I guess it's a perk for customers. 

We had to do some fancy re-arrangin' to fit the tree into the car, but it fit. Drove home, and stuck the tree out on the balcony until tomorrow when we'll bring it in and decorate it, including with real candles. I'll be sure to post a pic of the tree, decorated with candles blazing, so you'll be able to tell the authorities exactly how our house happened to burn to the ground.

(Just kidding---it's perfectly safe.)