The Bean Blog

Buy a tree, save a forest

Dec 16, 2008 In the holiday spirit

I’m one of those people who like to have a real Christmas tree. There’s just something about a real tree that makes Christmas seem more joyful. The fake plastic tree just feels so commercialized and depressing. As opposed to chopping down a perfectly fine living tree for the sole purpose of planting it in plastic holder for three weeks and decorating it with dorky (but memorable and loving) ornaments the kids made at school or church and then tossing the tree on the curb a few days in to the new year. But buying a real tree is also more green…and I’m not just talking about the color. So we are sticking with the real thing from now on.

I also like a real tree because it makes me feel closer to nature…especially when outside all I can see if white snow and tire tracks. We even had a tiny acorn fall out of our tree this year. How cool is that?

Plus I lurvvve the smell of a real live Christmas tree. The couple of years where Lee convinced me to decorate a fake tree I had to burn a dozen evergreen candles to make it really smell like Christmas in the house.

And real trees also remind me of my childhood. A real tree was always one of our holiday traditions. In a previous year I posted about how I fondly remember going to the tree farm with my dad to pick out the perfect tree for Christmas when I was a child. But as I was searching through my archives to find that post I discovered that my kids are apparently always sick this week in December. And then my stomach started to get a little queasy. So I stopped looking. But feel free to peruse my archives to find that post if you dare.

Like every other aspect of my life, we usually procrastinate on the tree. We are usually one of those families at the tree farm trying to decide between the last two ugly trees at the tree farm. A decision between ugly and crooked or ugly and bare is never an easy choice. Or we pull all of the kids out of the car kicking and screaming to search for a tree in the Wal-Mart parking lot during -20 degree temps and snow/ice storm. Good times.

But not this year. This year Lee surprised us. He went out to run errands on Friday night and came home with a big Christmas tree. A Christmas tree so tall we had to cut off 2 feet just to get it to fit in our living room. A Christmas tree so wide it takes up our whole living room window. It’s beautiful. We’re going to have him pick out our Christmas trees every year from now on.

Yesterday we pulled out the Christmas decorations and went to work on beautifying the tree. In previous years I was very particular about exactly what decorations went on the tree and where they went. No two like ornaments next to each other; not the same color, or the same shape.

But last year I decided to take a chill pill and just let the kids have fun with it. I may not look perfect, but the kids worked hard on it and are very proud of their work. So that’s all that matters. This year the little kids started and the tree was a little bottom heavy with ornaments. So I had to get after the teens to start participating and get some ornaments up higher. Decorating the tree is not a spectator sport after all.

And this year we not only had a blast decorating the tree, but we doing our part to save the a forest. How about you?

Related posts:

1. Yes, Skyler, there is a Santa Claus Skyler and Spencer are 10 years old so it’s no...
2. Treemendous Tonight was the 1st and 2nd grade music program. It...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: christmas, Christmas tree, decorating the Christmas tree, Non-Toxic Kids, save a forest, World Christmas Tree