My mother is very proud of the Christmas tree she has back home in Australia. It's one of those artificial trees made of wire and green tinselly stuff that folds out from a central stem. It was a very good one apparently, made in Germany, and was quite expensive when it was bought back in 1963 - the year I was born. Mum reminds me every year that the tree is as old as me, and on that basis alone, I suppose it must have been a reasonably quality tree to have lasted all these years. To be fair, it is quite a nice looking tree.

But real Christmas trees - and by that I mean actual real trees - don't seem to be all that popular in Australia. My nan used to occasionally have a real tree when we were little, but I mostly remember them as droopy looking things that shed needles all over the floor, so it's no wonder that most Australians I know have artificial Christmas trees.

Here in Canada, I'm told it's a different story. Perhaps it's because pine trees are quite prolific in Canada, but there seems to be a tradition here that families go out together and pick their tree, chop it down and drag it home, then gather together to decorate it.

With Donna and the kids leaving before Christmas, I can't see the point of putting up a tree just for myself. So when Sean and Kim invited us to go tree hunting with them we jumped at the chance. We drove out to a tree farm near Milton, where we spent quite a while browsing through the various trees on offer before finally finding the perfect tree. It had to be just the right size, height, bushyness, and style. Eventually we think we got one that fits the bill, so we had it tied up and off we went.

Christmas tree hunting is quite good fun, and I never realised there were so many different types and styles to choose from. Some people were out in the hills chopping their own, and others, like us, were choosing from those already harvested. It's a major operation, and there were tons of people all wondering around with their kids, all in search of their perfect tree.

Next step is to decorate it!