Aaron’s Tree – Carmel’s Canine Christmas Tree in Mission Trail Nature Preserve

 
Aaron's - "Merry Christmas" - Tree
Location: Mission Trail Nature Preserve, Serra Trail, 1/4 mile from Rio Road Entrance 
To celebrate the Christmas season, canine lovers have again decorated Aaron’s tree in Mission Trail Nature Preserve with shiny red and silver balls, topped with a silver star. Next to the Christmas tree is a container with ornaments, hangers and markers for park users to write their dog’s name on ornaments and then hang them on the Christmas tree.

Aaron’s “Merry Christmas” Tree, a young redwood tree, is just off Serra Trail, just around the bend in the trail, about a ¼ mile from the entrance to Mission Trail Nature Preserve at Rio Road.

Canine Christmas Tree History:

Ed and Betty Anderson, of Monterey, planted their 2004 living redwood Christmas tree in Mission Trail Nature Preserve in 2005, as a memorial to their son, Aaron, who died on 21 December 2003, at the age of 31. For that first Christmas season in 2005, the tree was transformed into a magical Canine Christmas Tree. Since Aaron was an animal lover and “spent a lot of time in Mission Trail Park,” his mother, Betty, said in December 2005 that she was delighted and thankful for the decorated tree at Christmastime. And Aaron “would have really enjoyed it.”

(Source: Canine Christmas tree is memorial redwood for Monterey couple’s son, Mary Brownfield, The Carmel Pine Cone, December 23, 2005)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL...AND ESPECIALLY TO OUR CANINE COMPANIONS!