This year was the first year we got a live Christmas tree in “forever”.  It has always been such a convenience to take the artificial one out and know it will fit in our tiny house and know we’d have the lights and ornaments to suit it.  While checking a customer out at my second job several weeks ago, he mentioned what a long day he had had.  I asked what he did and he told me about his Christmas tree farm.  I told him I hadn’t had a live tree for a very long time and he said I was his perfect customer.  I got the details on the farm and my daughter and I went down the following week on a rainy Friday night.  It was so fun to look at all the different trees and to come to an agreement on which one would be best.  We tagged it and had it loaded to the roof of the SUV. They also had the coolest wreath making station so we did that and came home with a beautiful custom wreath!  My daughter even found a bow for it that looked exactly like the bows my mother would hand make and adorn to all the gifts she gave each year.  What a cool night it was as it seemed meant to be. 

By purchasing a tree from a local farm, we supported their family business which then allowed us to bring something new and “alive” into our home for the holidays.  When picking out the tree, we joked about how much our goats and sheep would love it once Christmas was over so we already had a plan on how it would be “disposed” of.

Fast forward and now it’s after Christmas and people in my primary residence neighborhood are all asking in our Facebook group what to do with their Christmas trees.  Our private trash removal company is charging $75 to pick up trees to then throw them into the landfill!  I got on the group and immediately made a post offering “free tree recycling”!   Our farm property is just one mile from our neighborhood and if our neighbors could get their trees there, we would gladly take them for our boys.  Our neighbors got really excited with this option and we had a few trees dropped off last week and more people saying they were bringing them by this weekend. 

One neighbor reached out this morning and was uncertain how to get her tree to the farm since her car was on the smaller size and her tree was pretty fat!   My brother just happen to be in town when I got that message and he offered to drive by on his way back to Pennsylvania and transport the tree for her.  So, this morning we stopped over, grabbed her tree and some pumpkins, and took them to the boys.  She was super excited as was her son, and our boys of course are loving our free tree recycling program!

I have met several new neighbors and have shared some great stories all because of that first interaction many weeks ago with the customer at my second job.  You never know what the ripple effect can be from one interaction.  He told me about his farm, my daughter and I went and had an amazing experience getting our tree, we enjoyed our live tree during the holiday, we came up with the recycling idea, we shared it with neighbors who are super excited to have their tree recycled for free and lastly, our boys are happy!  It’s been a win-win-win-win! You never know what one interaction can do.  I love meeting new people and my second job gives me a great opportunity to do so.  What a great gift!  Say hi to someone new.  Smile. You never know what may happen.  Happy New Year!