I was lucky to have today off from my job in town, so I decided to head over to the local tree nursery to pick up some garland for our house. We like to add it to our porch every year for the Christmas season and I like to get it from this one specific nursery.
With the back of the truck somewhat cleaned out, I was ready to see if they got my order ready. I had called it in this morning to them, and usually they need about 20 minutes to get it done – so I was pretty sure that it was waiting for me.
And when I pulled up to the nursery I could see a bundle sitting on the ground and sure enough – it had my name on it. It probably was done for a couple of hours to be honest.
Well you can’t just go to this business without spending some time talking to to the owner, so I went to the front door to see if someone was around. I mean the parking lot was packed, so someone should be here right?
Once I opened the door and stepped inside I knew exactly why I love this place. You are greeted by an overwhelming aroma of fresh cut Christmas trees and it is just so awesome. There are trees drying because they just were flocked with a white coating that looks like it just literally snowed on them, humungous wreaths that seemed like they were 10 or 12 feet big waiting to be picked up, two ladies in the corner just busy as all get out making smaller wreaths, and a family in the back picking out a Christmas tree.
As I was just standing there soaking it all in, I heard someone ask if I needed anything else. Well, it sure seemed like a good time to look at a tree. So I headed to the back of the shop and I found one that fit the bill. I didn’t think I was going to look for a tree today, but check it off my list to do later this week.
And I normally need a couple of pieces of extra greenery for something at Christmas, so I decided to pick up 12 lbs of that too. Hindsight – 12 lbs is kind of a lot 🙂
Next thing to do was to make my way into the office and pay my bill. The owner was sitting by his big wooden desk that looked like it was put there when this business started many years ago, and his son was on the other side of the room by his big old wooden desk. They are father and son that have been doing this business forever and have a great routine going between them. The father takes the phone calls with the orders and the son writes up the bills at the end.
I had a really great visit with the dad talking pretty much about everything. From marriage, to farmers, to Bohemian cooks! And as we were talking, I couldn’t help to notice the 50 lb. bag of salted peanuts beside me. The dad said that his son orders them every year and to make sure to take some.
Well it was about time to head home, so I paid my bill and headed back to our farm. I found myself thinking about the friendly smile on the owners face and the peanut shells all over the floor, I thought about all the people working hard on the trees and the Christmas wreaths, and especailly how can you forget that great smell! Yup, I love this place.
And this is what the back of the truck looked like the next morning when it needed to be unpacked
And you’ll never guess what was in my pocket!