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Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,644
1,773
More thoughts regarding trees. It seems that for Christmas decorations, we are faced with the same problem we face at the grocery store -- paper or plastic? Paper is made from a renewable source, trees. Plastics from which most plastic grocery (I said, "most," Peaboy ;-)) bags are created, are petroleum-based. Same goes for Christmas trees. If you get the paper bags or the real Christmas trees, you face getting yelled at by the tree-huggers for killing trees. However, if you chose plastic, you get yelled at by the tree-huggers for using petroleum-based plastics, which do not break down so easily in our environment and because oil is non-renewable in addition to it keeps the US messing around in the middle east. What's a person who wants to do the right thing, to do? Get bashed, or get bashed? :dunno:
 

Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,666
9,475
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
don't know the answer SJ. I just know I get a real fresh tree every year and love having it inside my house throughout the holidays. I leave it plain for about a week just to admire it in its naked beauty. Then slowly begin to decorate it with lights, then with ornaments that we've collected for many many years. It's always a very eclectic kind of tree with big old fashioned lights and lots of different ornaments collected over the years. No theme tree here.
 

DD

SoWal Expert
Aug 29, 2005
23,870
460
72
grapevine, tx. /On the road to SoWal
don't know the answer SJ. I just know I get a real fresh tree every year and love having it inside my house throughout the holidays. I leave it plain for about a week just to admire it in its naked beauty. Then slowly begin to decorate it with lights, then with ornaments that we've collected for many many years. It's always a very eclectic kind of tree with big old fashioned lights and lots of different ornaments collected over the years. No theme tree here.

It sounds wonderful.
 

NoHall

hmmmm......can't remember
May 28, 2007
9,032
996
Northern Hall County, GA
With all of this talk of decorating, I came across a random thought. Isn't it ironic that we cut down live trees at Christmas time, killing them, bringing them out of nature, only to stand them up in our homes and water them, pretending that they are alive.

Yes it is. I used to insist on a "real" tree for years. And, I always felt bad for the ones standing there in the lot all alone on Christmas Eve..the ones no one bought. :sosad:
Now I have fake ones, and I don't have to worry so much about the ones in the lot, because I don't go there and I try not to look when I pass by. IF I did have a "real" one again, it would be the kind you can plant later--with roots still attached.

I never liked the thought of cutting down a tree for Christmas, and never liked the mess they made, either. (I think all the pointy, dead needles in your socks are tree karma.) Unfortunately, I'm no good at keeping a potted tree alive in my house, either.

But on the third hand, the overwhelming majority of Christmas trees are grown on Christmas trees farms. For four years, that is the only reason that tree is watered and fertilized, and some family's livelihood depends on its health and eventual sale. The tree is harvested and immediately replaced. In that sense, it is no different than a flower bought from a forest--purchased and regrown.

Just a thought...
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,644
1,773
But on the third hand, the overwhelming majority of Christmas trees are grown on Christmas trees farms. For four years, that is the only reason that tree is watered and fertilized, and some family's livelihood depends on its health and eventual sale. The tree is harvested and immediately replaced. In that sense, it is no different than a flower bought from a forest--purchased and regrown.

Just a thought...

I hear you, but that is the same argument being made against the use of paper bags at the grocery store. The paper companies plant and manage trees specifically to cut down the trees, to use for building materials and paper, then replant the trees. It's just on a larger scale.
 

NoHall

hmmmm......can't remember
May 28, 2007
9,032
996
Northern Hall County, GA
I hear you, but that is the same argument being made against the use of paper bags at the grocery store. The paper companies plant and manage trees specifically to cut down the trees, to use for building materials and paper, then replant the trees. It's just on a larger scale.

:dunno:

I ate a salad at supper tonight. Someone cut that head of lettuce to the ground. I also had a potato, which was yanked out of the ground. We won't even talk about the steak that came after it.

(This is not at all an argument for picking up the Griswold family tree...)
griswald.png
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,644
1,773
I'd prefer a goat, which makes less poop. If I had a goat, I'd be drinking coffee with goat's milk this morning instead of coffee with no milk.
 
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