There's lots of possible excuses I could use on why we don't have a Christmas tree:
* It's a Germanic pagan tradition and I'm not a Germanic pagan.
* They drop needles and make a mess and I don't want to deal with it.
* Trees often represent fertility and the last thing I need in this house after having had twins before my firstborn was even 2 is more fertility.
But none of those are really the real reason why we don't have a tree. The real reason is that I just can't get past this idea that we're celebrating life by killing something and then enshrining its dying carcass, as wonderful as it might smell, in our house. It just feels all wrong to me.
I have nothing against people doing Christmas trees. But I just find that year after year, even when the kids beg, I can't make myself do it. The last time we had a tree was in 2001 when I bought a live one in a pot. It was only a few feet tall, cost an arm and a leg, and then we were stuck with finding a place to plant it afterwards. (It now lives somewhere out on the plains with my brother-in-law's parents and is apparently doing well.)
This year my mom took pity on the kids and gave them a little plastic tree that they've set out front next to the Christmas cactus that I told them they could put the presents under. They seem OK with that. Then I showed them this cartoon. With my girls, cartoons speak louder than words. I'll be curious to see if they beg for a tree next year or not. To be honest, their begging has always seemed a little half-hearted.
(Click on the picture to enlarge it.)
Too funny. We decided against a live tree this year, too. I brought in some little forest looking trees that I usually had out on the front porch, plopped them on the side tables, and botta boom, botta bing, we've got ourselves some Christmas trees. The girls are still trying to find the joy in them, though. ;)
ReplyDeleteWe have a fake tree... As a child we had one in a pot which lived outside on the patio for most of the year and came back in for a week over christmas every year. That seems like the best compromise to me but Alan is allergic to them so we're going to be sticking with our faithful fake one for a few years yet...
ReplyDeleteHaving a live tree is saving the planet (as long as the tree is disposed of correctly).
ReplyDeleteAll through its life the tree is absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. This happens more at the beginning of the life of a tree than at the end, so it's much better to chop a tree down and grow another one than to leave the same one up for 100 years.
A lot of trees would not be grown at all if it were not for the christmas tree market. Go out and get yourselves one before you ruin your green credentials!
given the number of dead trees in the area due to the beetle kill, we'll have more than enough baby trees around soon to make up for one christmas tree re-plant.
ReplyDeleteand i've heard that baby trees take in more co2, but that's in proportion to their size, i believe. the big trees still take in more per tree, yes? so i find it a dubious argument that would lead me to also buy more wood furniture than i need, use up more paper than i need, etc.
This is true, but don't forget that trees have to be thinned out as they get bigger.
ReplyDeleteGrowing particular kinds of tree over and over really is a good thing.
ah, now if THIS was available around here, we'd probably have a christmas tree. i knew of a tree rental place in san francisco, but this guy will even tag your tree and bring it back to you next year if you'd like. how cool is that?!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17tree.html
lol! the sojo email picked a quote from the christmas tree article that i mentioned:“We love this. It stays fresh, the cleanup is minimal because it doesn’t drop anything, and it goes away and comes back next year. It’s kind of like having a little pet.” Megan Arquette, Manhattan Beach, CA, on a new business that rents Christmas trees in pots, then returns them, alive, to the nursery after the season. (New York Times)
ReplyDeleteFake Trees! We've had one for 16 years, the year after we got our cat. Sooty was too fond of climbing it etc, however he'd still sleep in the fake tree.
ReplyDelete