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

[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....

[channlluv]

...
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.

We had one of those, along with that rotating colored disk thing with the backlight that shone up on the tree turning it blue, red, green, and golden.

Ah, good times, good times.

Roxy

[OakLeaf]

A living tree is nice if you can keep it alive (very difficult) but I don't know how eco friendly it is. The difference in fuel required to excavate and haul the root ball (total weight 100-150 kg), vs. hauling a cut tree (maybe 10 kg) and extracting a stump; the thousands of gallons of (usually potable) water that have to be fed to the sapling as it gets established, vs a much smaller amount of water to farm new seedlings each year...

Just speculating here, but I'd have to think that the main route to an eco friendly holiday season is the ordinary one of reduce and reuse. That all becomes so much more difficult under the commercial pressures of the holidays of course - which is all the more reason to try.

[smilingcat]

A living tree is nice if you can keep it alive (very difficult) but I don't know how eco friendly it is. The difference in fuel required to excavate and haul the root ball (total weight 100-150 kg), vs. hauling a cut tree (maybe 10 kg) and extracting a stump; the thousands of gallons of (usually potable) water that have to be fed to the sapling as it gets established, vs a much smaller amount of water to farm new seedlings each year...

Just speculating here, but I'd have to think that the main route to an eco friendly holiday season is the ordinary one of reduce and reuse. That all becomes so much more difficult under the commercial pressures of the holidays of course - which is all the more reason to try.

Oh didn't think about LCA (life cycle analysis)... I wonder which is better??

I do miss the smell of fresh evergreen. I love the smell of earth, the plants, the trees. Maybe his is why I prefer to have a real tree in my house... (and yes my parents also had a silver christmas tree. blech!!)

With two boy dogs and the cats, anything standing up like a tree is just asking for trouble. sigh...

[five one]

For many years, we have gone to a particular tree farm in the Santa Cruz mountains and cut our own tree. If cut correctly, leaving several lower branches, the tree will regenerate in about five years. After we take the tree down, DH, who is an arborist by trade, runs the tree through a brush chipper where it becomes mulch. The company that picks up our trash has a very good recycling program. Unflocked trees left on the curb are picked up and chipped.


And speaking of pets and Christmas trees...

We have a couple rescue kitties (both adults, not kittens) that we adopted last February, so this will be our first Christmas with them. One is a 15# Maine Coon who is very curious and loves to be up high. He can jump like nobody's business and he's fearless. I have visions of him trashing the tree while we're at work. We've never had an issue with cats we've had in the past. Our house is small and there is only one spot where there's room for a tree. There is no way to close off this part of the house from the cats. Suggestions anyone?

[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.