The farm
 The journey
Tree sellers
Christmas in New York
Home at last
O Christmas Tree 
 Chapter 5: Home at last

arah Johnson and James Minton are about to take a big step.


After three years together, they are putting up their very first Christmas tree today. 

Not that she’s into Christmas much. Between finishing a postgraduate degree at Harvard University and working for the New York City Department of Education, Johnson hasn’t given the holidays much thought. Besides, she’s not into Christmas bling; that’s more her mother’s thing.

But Minton is a photographer and a sentimentalist. He really wants a tree. A tree with lights and decorations, So, out of love, Johnson is out here with Minton on a Saturday morning on Broadway and 110th St. looking at Christmas trees, trying to keep warm. 

There are big, bushy Fraser firs from North Carolina and teeny tiny table-top trees from Nova Scotia. But it’s the smell of a 6-foot Balsam fir that travelled more than 700 kilometres from a tiny village in Quebec that captures their fancy.

The tree is bundled and paid for and Sarah and James are halfway home with their first Christmas tree, when it hits her. This is for real.  
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 Instagram extra: Your Christmas tree >> 
   
Story: Susan Semenak
Photos and videos: John Kenney
Illustration and design: Dawn Lemieux
Production: Roberto Rocha
Credits