Our Christmas tree has a knee. “A crooked tree for a crooked year” was my sales pitch when we spotted the bent ponderosa pine on the snowy downslope of Pike National Forest. First just my 6-year-old agreed, and then my wife, and finally my 9-year-old came on board. After we cut it, we found layers we certainly didn’t anticipate. I’d taken the day off work so we could all drive half an hour northwest from our little town at the base of Pikes Peak up into the national forest to secure our tree. It’s a neat annual program run by the Forest Service that’s a fundraiser, family activity and fire reduction initiative all wrapped in one.