While Christmas is a time of relaxing and celebrating, for Clifford Pippen, 91, as a teen and an adult, there was some hard work in the months preceding the event, and this was cutting down Christmas trees.
In fact, in his career, he estimated that 40,000 trees he cut ended up in living rooms in Canada and US, from his handy work.
Pippen, a resident of Sunshine Lodge, grew up about 15 miles outside of Cranbrook in a community called Mayook. He was the middle child with two older sisters and one younger. They would celebrate CHristmas with his extended family. He particularly remembers when his younger sister would come home from the Airforce and they would celebrate.
“I guess we were poor, but we never noticed it. We made do with what we had and never complained about it,” he tells the Mail.
He said in his community they would host a Christmas Concert, and take a collection. The funds from the concert would be doled out to families to buy gifts. Gifts would always be necessities. He was the first student from his community to go to high school and he would board in Cranbrook.
It was after the war and when he and his father began cutting Christmas trees.
He explains that to get a permit for a cutting block of trees you had to prove you put in time maintaining the forest.
“We had a pretty big permit at the time. It was 1,000 to 2,500 trees and you would work on that. We had to put in 10 man-days working on improvements,” explains Pippen.
When he was at high school in Cranbrook, he would come home on the weekends and holidays to work on the trees.
He explains they would trim the trees, and they would have to wait until the frost set in before cutting to set the needles. This would start in November and had only about three weeks to a month to fulfill their quota. They had to pay stumpage and would cut the trees, bundle them for shipping and sell to a buyer who would often ship them south across the border to the US.
“We made a living at it. We didn’t make much, but like a lot of things around then, it is a lot different today. We lived off what we made. Now a lot of people live beyond their means. They don’t know how to make do with what they got,” he said. ”At the time, I could make about $1,000 off the permit, and that was enough to keep the farm going.”
Eventually, his father retired, and Pippen took over the family farm. He continued to fill his quota of trees. This continued until the 1970s when he sold. Today he says most of the trees today are farmed trees, and natural stand trees are less common.
As for what kind of tree they would harvest? Douglas Fir ruled the day.
“The spruce trees aren’t very good, they don’t hold the needles. The Jack Pine…only the poor people had them,” he chuckles. “Fir was the classic. You don’t have a Christmas tree unless you have a Douglas Fir.”
“When you cut the trees, you always brought home a good one for the house.”

In one of the most contentious Alberta by-elections in some time, candidates are lining up to compete for the seat in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, and one has roots in the Drumheller Valley.
In August of this year, Laila Goodridge resigned to run for a seat in Parliament representing Fort McMurray-Cold Lake. One of the candidates is Ariana Mancini, daughter of Gerry and Sofia Mancini.
“I’m proud to accept the nomination to be your NDP candidate in the upcoming by-election,” she said in her former campaign launch speech on Sunday, December 12.
“This campaign is an opportunity for our region to send a message to Jason Kenney. The message is we don’t have to choose between bad and worse…we can choose better.”
Ariana graduated from high school in Drumheller and went on to a career in teaching. She is currently a Grade 4 teacher at Ecole Dickinsfield School in Fort McMurray, and is on the executive of Fort McMurray Local 48 of the Alberta Teachers Association.
This is not her first time running. She ran in 2015, in the Fort McMurray-Conklin riding, and the field of candidates has some similarities. Former Wildrose leader Brian Jean has recently won the nomination to represent the United Conservative Party UCP.
Under Jean’s leadership, the Wild Rose and Progressive Conservatives came to a merger agreement. A leadership election occurred in 2017, and Jason Kenney defeated Jean to lead the newly formed UCP.
Mancini congratulated Jean on his nomination, but also discussed his motivations.
“Mr. Jean has made it clear, even this evening, that he is running because of his rivalry with Jason Kenney. I am running for the people of Fort McMurray and Lac La Biche. UCP MLAs haven’t been (delivering) for our region. I am focused on job creation, improving public healthcare, protecting public education, protecting our community from flood and fire, and ensuring we have reliable EMS.”
She also called on the UCP to reverse changes to the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). This could affect constituents in her riding as well as other flood communities. With changes to the DRP, costs borne through a disaster will be split 90-10 with the province. The province is also implementing a $500,000 limit per homeowner application and a limit of a one-time application. This means if your home is damaged and you apply to the program for any amount, you cannot apply ever again, even in another disaster situation.
In 2015, Mancini captured almost 31 per cent of the vote, finishing second to Jean in the Fort McMurray-Conklin riding.