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Ahhh the Christmas Tree

Posted at 9:30 AM on December 17, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan (4 Comments)

For those of you who celebrate the holidays with a big green glowing decoration in your living room, how do you do it?

I know there is a lot of great information out there on how and why to choose the Christmas tree of your dreams. Frankly, none of the information really speaks to me. What I "should believe" is that a local, organic Christmas tree from a sustainable source, like a tree farm, is the tree for me. I hear you, and it is the solution we will likely go with (if we get around to it).

The problem for me is that the tree is dead and dying. It seems so strange to me that we would take down a living breathing tree for the simple purpose of holiday tradition. I am a little sad when I look at the tree and wonder why I need to take it from the outside and bring it inside. We had a local tree last year and it was beautiful and there was much rejoicing (or something like that).

The other "simple" solution is the plastic tree. It seems like a great cost savings. It seems like it is something that would be right up my alley, wanting to reuse things and what not. Problem is, the tree is PLASTIC. The world certainly doesn't need more plastic, especially to replace something that is perfectly bio-degradable to begin with. A tree. In addition to the plastic issue, there is the manufacturing conditions, the shipping, etc - all of this takes a heck of a lot of petroleum.

Here are the alternative solutions that I am weighing out in my head:

1) Saving a plastic tree route to the landfill. I could buy one used and not contribute to the production of more plastic trees. But then again, I think plastic trees are ugly.

2) Buy a potted tree and plant it post x-mas. This is my favorite solution. Unfortunately, I cannot afford this option and I cannot really ask Brendan to carry around 5 foot trees + rootball/dirt. He already complains about schlepping baby related paraphernalia. They don't travel light.

3) Buy an arrangement at the farmers market of evergreen branches mixed in with other plants and decorations. I find these gorgeous, but not quite the same photo that the baby sees in her book - am I ruining Christmas?

4) Decorate the Norfolk Island Pine we already have in the house. This option has been done a couple of times. We stopped because Brendan asked in the sweetest most childlike voice ... "could we have a real Christmas tree this year?" Who am I to ruin Christmas for others.

I feel like the Grinch. What do you do for your tree?

Comments (4)

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Hi Sareen,
Interesting conundrum, the Christmas tree. I don't much like the idea of cut trees, either. They make me a bit melancholy. For the past several years, my husband's boss (who operates a landscaping business) has upheld a wonderful tradition of giving us a live blue spruce each year as a "Christmas bonus." These spruces are usually around 5-6 feet tall, and our house is very small, so we keep the tree outside on the deck through the holiday season before planting it. We decorate the outdoor tree with tinsel and hang our indoor ornaments on houseplants, shelves, and window frames. It's not the most traditional situation, but there's just no room in our house for a 5-foot tree. Anyway, I definitely encourage the option of a live tree with a root ball: If you have room in your yard and own your home, consider it an investment that will increase your property's value in the long term. :-) The only downside is digging a hole large enough for the root ball in that frozen Minnesota ground. Maybe you can find a smallish tree.
Happy holidays,
Autumn

Posted by Autumn Long | December 17, 2008 1:35 PM

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Dear Grinch :-) -

A great, perennial question! Last year, displaced, we did the plastic thing (a for-free cast-off) - BLECH! Never again! The year before, in a small apartment where I was recovering from surgery, we acquired a small tree-shaped rosemary plant and decorated it. We meant to replant it outside, but it didn't survive.

"This I Believe:" - In our house, the little ones seem to LOVE driving out to the tree farm, wading through mud to choose and lovingly CUT DOWN the tree that says most clearly to them, "Take me! I'm yours!" In January, we move the tree outside and decorate it for the birds. When that's over, we move it on - sometimes to a stream bank that needs shoring up (Conservation Dept. or Stream Team decision), or to someone's back 40 where it serves as habitat (land owner's decision). Our kids and grandkids got the idea of the living tree and they cooperated. But their eyes have always shined brightest and memories resurface most often for that other kind - the one that we cut down and loved briefly and the recycled as well as we could. From my perspective, that's okay.

Let us know what you decide!?

Posted by Cher | December 17, 2008 2:24 PM

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Both ideas are great! I will re-think about the live tree. We certainly don't have room to plant it on our postage stamp of a yard (Brendan already wanted to "harvest" the 5' evergreen in the front yard. But, I do have relatives with a cabin, perhaps we could work out an arrangement.

As far as the cutting down the tree idea, I think I might be for it. It would give me the opportunity to discuss the growing process with the farmer, help me feel better about the investment and yes, life long memories. Now if only the ladies of my life could do some of the work to get the tree... At 5 months, I expect big things!

Posted by sareen | December 18, 2008 7:54 AM

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Good morning,

I'm sorry I'm reading your blog a little late in the season, but I thought I would comment on on your Christmas tree conundrum.

We have had both fresh and artificial trees (in the family households with allergies) over the years. You can make a case for both. In Minnesota it makes sense to have a real tree as there are lots of local producers in the state, in Phoenix it doesn't. And I'm not sure that cutting down a tree is really any different than killing the fattest goose/turkey/hog for the Christmas dinner.

But perhaps the question isn't really real or artificial, but why are we doing this? I grew up in a Danish American household and our Christmas tree is very much a part of our Christmas Eve activities. After the family dinner, we turn down the lights, all join hands and sing every Christmas carol/song we can think of while circling our Christmas tree (we refer to it as "dancing around the tree").

I don't know the origins of the custom—I'm assuming pagan. It is a tradition carried down on both sides of my family and I assumed as a child that everyone did it. What I do know is I could give up the gift giving and the beautiful (mostly locally raised) Christmas meal, but without our Christmas tree tradition it would not be Christmas.

At Christmas time we want to create a sense of "hygge" (for which there is no direct translation from Danish for—well being and warmth/cozy will have to suffice). Our Christmas tree contributes a lot to our family's sense of hygge on Christmas Eve.

Glædelig Jul. Har et godt nytår!

Jean

Posted by Jean | December 31, 2008 10:32 AM