DALEVILLE — Max, 5-year-old son of Jason and Kathy Stecher, tagged the evergreen tree the family agreed upon and took another long look at the label.
“S-T-E-C-H-E-R,” he said, double-checking the label and testing his spelling skills.
Max, his dad, mom and 15-month-old baby-sister Kate spent a short while Friday afternoon at the Millbrook Tree Farm in Daleville scouting out a tree to fit their tastes. Other families joined in the holiday tradition, sizing up the crop, estimated by owners Vicky and Brian Hildebrand to top out somewhere around 50,000 trees.
The Hildebrands opened their farm to Christmas business on Thanksgiving afternoon, making for an unseasonably warm start this year in terms of the weather and the clientele.
“It’s been wonderful weather and wonderful families have come out,” said Vicky, who’s also a health teacher at Highland High School. “It’s great. We’ve had a wonderful response this year.”
Kathy agreed that “it’s a nice day to get in the mood for Christmas.”
The Stechers found their tree near the lane into the tree farm close to the end of a long row of others like it.
What set it apart from the others?
It needed to be “medium-sized” (seven feet at the most), and durable and, of course, good looking, according to Jason. He and Kathy took turns holding Kate and stood analyzing trees for a few moments as Max enjoyed the overload of options at the tree farm, deciding for himself upon about four or five trees during his stay, most of which looked young, short and modest, like Charlie Brown’s tree, according to Kathy.
Deliberating on their own options, Jason said to Kathy, “We need one that’s a little fatter; I just like the shape of that one,” and pointed to a particular tree taller than the average man and a little fatter, too.
“Lots of presents can fit under that one,” Kathy said, once she and Jason had narrowed down their choices.
Max was sent to Millbrook’s main building, a tree-preparing area and gift shop, to retrieve the name tag and orange ribbon that would reserve the tree for his family.
The boy came back with the orange ribbon dangling from his waistband.
“He put the flag in his pants like he would in flag football,” his mother marveled.
His father’s attention was taken by the variety of trees available — pines, spruces and firs — 12 kinds in all.
“You’ve got short fat ones, tall skinny ones, a variety of all here,” Jason said. Warm weather like Friday’s made for an opportune moment to get a head start on Christmas festivities.
“I got up this morning and put the Christmas lights up outside,” he said. “Now this will give us a jump start on doing all the things inside.”
The next step: Jason said they need to wait a week to harvest their tree and cart it home because he and Kathy need to figure out how to keep the tree and their toddler Kate from hurting each other.
Once they find a baby-safe scheme, they’ll get Brian to help them prep the tree — measuring, drilling, bailing and loading — for the ride home.
Millbrook Tree Farm
Open Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve
Monday through Friday, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Find and harvest your own tree or choose from pre-cut trees
Trees: various spruce, pine and fir
Tree services: hand saws and tree carts for the harvesters, free tree shaking, drilling and bailing
Gift shop: Christmas gifts, ornaments, tree toppers, tree stands, table decorations, custom/handmade wreaths, fresh garland
Owner Vicky recommends: “Bring a camera.”
Directions: Two miles east of Interstate 69 on Indiana 32 between Daleville and Yorktown. Turn right on 400 South. The farm is on the right.
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November 27, 2006
Christmas timber
Daleville tree farm open for holidays
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