eco friendly Christmas

[smilingcat]

I'm on a mailing list for green/eco-friendly organization. They've sent me the following link.

What a wonderful idea. I think we may try this.

living christmas tree You sign up and rent a living Christmas tree. You choose the date for the drop off and they deliver. And you choose the date of the pickup and they come and pick up the tree. The tree is saved for the following year or for planting somewhere to grow big..

Unfortunately, it is only available in Los Angeles Area.

[shootingstar]

We have a minature tabletop artificial Christmas tree about 1 ft. high. I've had it over last 20 yrs. Gets draped with a permanent collection of decorations acquired from bike touring trips, children's homemade decorations and other paraphenalia from several European vacation trips, ,etc.

He comes from a strong family tradition of live trees. Traditional Germans value live evergreen. 'O Tannebaum'...is a German carol. Until she died, his mother liked decorating her home with live evergreen boughs. My partner even remembers real flame candles on evergreen Christmas tree indoors at home as a child here in Canada.

Whereas my lst memory of Christmas ..was a 6 ft. high silver foil Christmas tree for lst 10 yrs. of life. A Christmas tree memory better erased.

[badger]

when we lived in Japan in the early 70's, nobody really celebrated Christmas. And my dad being European he made an effort by digging up this poor little Charlie Brown tree every year and bringing it inside in a pot and putting it back outside when done.

But we didn't care, it magically had presents underneath it on Christmas mornings

[lph]

Friend of mine still uses real candles on her Christmas tree. She says they're a bit of hassle to light (and get hold of, they're special, thin ones) and don't last very long ,but are very very pretty

[tc1]

Trees sold as Christmas trees in the Northwest are a farmed crop. It's like buying a bag of carrots or potatoes. I used to always buy one to support the local farmers.

Unfortunately the boyfriend prefers a plastic tree, because that's what he grew up with. So we did that for a couple years. Now we have a crazy pointer dog so we don't put up any tree...

[Zen]

True about the farmed crop. That's a living for someone.
However, if I planned on staying where I live now I'd buy a live (root-balled) tree and plant it.

I've wanted an aluminum tree for some time now. My uncle had one with a color-wheel light projected on to it. It would turn different colors like the horses in The Wizard of Oz.

[Shara]

I like that they have that Christmas tree service. It's a good option for people who can't get out but still want to go natural and help the environment. Reminds me of a diapering service 'we'll do the dirty work for you if you'll just go green!' lol I love Christmas and have two artificial trees. One is table top and the other is a skinny 5' one. I'd love a big plus 6' one but that's not in the budget this year.

[nancielle]

...I've wanted an aluminum tree for some time now. My uncle had one with a color-wheel light projected on to it. It would turn different colors like the horses in The Wizard of Oz.

Ah, memories. My grandmother had one of those when I was very young and I thought that color wheel was the coolest thing evah!

I'm a Christmas decorating-aholic. I have a silver tree that I put my snowmen ornament collection on. I also have a regular ol' green tree that everything else goes on. So far, dog and cat have respectfully stayed away from both (at least while I'm there...who knows what evil crosses their little minds once I leave for work. )

[tulip]

I'd like to put a wreath on my door. I'm not sure about a tree yet. I might get one, but I don't have any ornaments. Maybe Ill make a bunch of origami cranes. And a chain made out of paper. Oh! And popcorn-cranberry garlands! Okay, I think I want a tree now.

[Shara]

The cafeteria at my university has been flooded with Christmas. Personally, I think it's awesome There are probably 20-30 trees of all sizes. All artifical. They are all have really neat decorations. One is decorated with BIG BOLD feathers in blue, purple and red. I don't know who did it but it's soo festive and just what I need at this time of year.

[shootingstar]

Friend of mine still uses real candles on her Christmas tree. She says they're a bit of hassle to light (and get hold of, they're special, thin ones) and don't last very long ,but are very very pretty

Dearie does remember in his teens, when the family's live Christmas tree with real candles, did catch on fire. His mother loved a decorated Christmas tree so much that every Christmas she had it up until her birthday (early Feb.). By that time, the tree was very dry and unfortunately one year, went up in flames indoors.

Fortunately that was the only damage!

Christmas is the only time for me to enjoy atypical tree mementos: plastic tiny bike, Santa Claus in a rowboat, Venetian glass bauble (from Venice), tiny plastic mug from Munich, child-painted baked decorations from now-adult niece and nephew, corn husk angel from Santa Fe, tiny East Indian doll, etc. I need my family and long-term friend memories...they live far away from me.

[owlice]

Live (balled) Christmas trees are very heavy (because of the root ball), and the root ball may contain mold spores, and if one is allergic to mold, one doesn't breathe and one has a headache throughout the entire holiday and might be snarly and not in the Christmas spirit at all because having a headache and not being able to breathe is not fun.

And then when the tree, which can stay indoors for only a week without damaging the tree, is planted outside and dies, one who couldn't breathe and had an aching head all through the holidays might wonder why she even bothered.

Not that I know anyone whose ever had such experiences or anything....

[badger]

one of my fondest memories of the little bits and bobs that my aunt sent us from Austria is one of those twirly angel things where these metallic angels with little bars going around in circles hitting bells. The angels moved by the heat of the candles underneath them. I'm sure there's a proper name for them that someone here knows!

[badgercat]

Every year after I turned 4 or so, all the way through college, I got to decorate a small (maybe 3-foot) artificial tree that my parents bought before my time. The Little Tree was "my" tree (I'm an only child), and I got to put my little cute and silly ornaments on it while the nice and elegant and family heirloom ornaments went on the Big Tree (my mom was so particular about ornament placement that she would move anything that I put on it anyway ). The Little Tree will be the tree that DBF and I decorate this season in our first home together.

So... I guess the fact that the Little Tree has been in use for the past 30-some years makes it environmentally friendly enough.

[NoNo]

We've never had a real tree, and the thought of needles all over the place and the inherent fire risk have never appealed to me. I like the thought of this service, though, for those real tree lovers out there. I'm using my parents' old tree, which is the only tree I remember having, so it has to be a good 25 years old. And I just took advantage of Home Depot's light recycling program where they gave you $3 off LED lights for every set of standard lights you brought in. The old lights get salvaged for usable components and the rest recycled. Every year we get a Hallmark ornament from our godparents, so I have quite a collection of those to go with some ornaments I made as a child (mom was going to get rid of them!). I guess my tree is as eco-friendly as I can make it.