Barely recovered from the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday mania, I am being asked to step right into Christmas mode. There is no avoiding the ads, the Christmas aisle at the drugstore, the daily mentions of preparations in the paper, and the creeping frenzy that I feel in my surroundings.
Real vs. Fake, Which Tree is Greener?‘ Not only do I have to get a Christmas tree, but beforehand I am to do some research and read a whole page article. Nothing is ever simple anymore. Just reading about the pros and cons of each options was enough to give me a headache:
- The new fake tree. It looks so real, you won’t even notice the difference. Some even have a fake smell to imitate the real thing. The stuff will last you for years. Imagine, no more trip to the tree farm every year. No more loading the monster on the top of your car. No more mess of pine needles throughout your house. No more watering. Done, you are set. And why worry about how to dispose of it? By the time you are done with it, it will be years, and hopefully by then, we will have figured out how to dispose of plastics without taxing the Earth too much. Still, there is the environmental cost of producing yet another man made plastic object.
- The used fake tree. There are tons of those floating around. You are not generating new plastics. This is a very reasonable option. I can’t help but wonder about the life of those trees prior to being recirculated. Did they witness happy Christmases? Who were their prior owners? How come they got ditched?
- The real tree. If you are like me, and can’t stand the idea of a plastic tree, go ahead, indulge yourself and your family, and don’t change a thing to your tradition. Gather your whole crew into the biggest car you own, and set out to your usual spot. Go to a tree farm to cut down your own, or just visit the nearby lot with already cut trees. It’s so much fun trying to pick the perfect tree, not too crooked, not too tall, not too short. Will it fit? We never made it as far as the tree farm, always went to the same lot close to our house. If you are environmentally correct, this is something to think about. How much gas will you use to drive to the tree farm?
- The live tree. Forget all that cutting and buying a fake. Instead go to the nursery, and buy a potted tree that you can reuse every year. You can bring it inside for Christmas, otherwise keep it in your yard. Of course, this is not an option for people without a yard. Nothing wrong with that option, that I can think of.
Last year, Prad and I opted for a live tree, and we will be bringing it back into the house next week. The nursery did not have a suitable pine tree, so we ended up with a holly tree instead. I kind of liked the idea of branching out, of not getting the same boring old pine. The children were disappointed. Yesterday, Catherine asked about the Christmas tree. When were we going to get one? I reminded her about the holly tree. She stormed down to her room. ‘Getting a real pine tree, that’s what Christmas is about‘
La Marguerite 
i went to artificial years ago merely because of a cat incident, she was so attracted to the real tree she scurried up one twice knocking it down – having me, yes then i decorated alone, redo the darn thing twice that year
i said forget it and bought post holiday something for all of 7.99
once i went fake i have to admit I loved it
i did inherit a really cool table top sortof tall and narrow fake one that we exclusively for santa ornaments only that is beautiful
i adore holly – what a lovely thought – too bad your catherine finds it unchristmasy
this year its trying to find a time to decorate – because of my injuries last year we skipped the entire thing in essence it’s like starting over as we have never decorated here OR decorated with dog ( OH NO!!)
Mother Earth aka Karen Hanrahan
http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com
Great ideas, here’s another: last year my partner and I got a small metal “tree” that assembles easily and quickly with the “branches” fitted into a slender “trunk”. When put together, the tree is about the size of Charlie Brown’s, small enough to fit on a tabletop. Unadorned it’s a twiggy little thing. However, we go to the neighborhood park and pick up boughs that have naturally shed from the big evergreens during the autumn windstorms. A few armfuls is all we need — we bring them home and tie them to the tree frame. Then we decorate with a small, manageable number of favorite ornaments. Voila, fresh greenery and sparkle for Christmas. After the holidays, the boughs go to the compost, and the tree frame is taken apart and returned to its compact storage box. This tree will become an heirloom and last for centuries. Artists and metalworkers, imagine the possibilities for creating individual expressions of the heirloom Christmas tree, wouldn’t it be beautiful to have this idea catch on!
That’s a great idea, Flora!
i liked this post a lot. as i get older, i do feel a little sad when my family and i trek to the temporary “lot” for the ritual of selecting a tree who’s given its life. several years ago, we bought a live tree who now bears the name “scott.” we have him in our garden. anyway, this year we’ve decided on going to a tree farm that we know will replant another little critter. the farm’s a short distance from our home.
on another, somewhat related, point…a friend of mine sent me this link to a documentary trailer, “what would jesus buy”:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/whatwouldjesusbuy/trailer/
from the looks of it, sustainability is implicated in several ways.
rob
thanks Rob. Good tree hunting . . . 🙂
The Jesus video has been quite a hit in the blogosphere!