Van Ree's Voice

My Nebraska Christmas tree

Saying that the Pacific Northwest is different from the badlands of Nebraska is an understatement. I love both places for different reasons, but the distinctions in topography can’t help but stick out like a sore thumb to me. The biggest change to hit me this holiday season is the lack of large, bushy, green Christmas trees that go on for what seems like forever.

Every year my parents, brother and I usually go chop down a sweet smelling pine tree in the forested area surrounding the Atlantic salmon farm that we lived on or we travel to a friend’s tree lot a couple mi...