A Thing So Lovely As a Tannenbaum

I am rather torn on the issue of Christmas trees.

I've grown up with BIG Christmas trees. Usually great big northern pines, with long brushy needles, always has a hole on one side so we put that side to the wall. It's a tradition of taking the van (we've had Variations on an Astro since shortly after moving out here, I believe), bundling up all three girls, and bringing the dog. Katie, Sandy, or Beau - all working class dogs, love the woods, love running around with the girls, love getting buried in burrs, hate having to be brushed out later on.

Dad drives. Mom will sometimes come, but more often she stays at home, perhaps anticipating what frightening bounty we may collect. The ride out always seems very long, and I usually start to feel slightly carsick because I'm a little kid and want to read my book while I'm riding in the car (doesn't matter which book. I always have a book, and I'm always in the middle of it).

Open the sliding door, and three girls and the dog pour out. Take off - somebody has the leash, somebody has the smaller hacksaw, Dad has the big one slung over his shoulder. Whoever has the saw is NOT allowed to run, so you have to play up the "being Dad's helper" angle to get somebody to do it.

Small, bristley trees are, to our minds, not done yet. They're not proper Christmas trees if you can see through them. We usually find monsters - Dad has to convince us that anything nine feet tall is not going to work. We roam all over searching for the right tree - planning how ornaments will fit - this one's too clustered, that one has a huge hole in it, etc, etc.

It's always too big when we get it home. First off, it won't fit in the door. Secondly, Dad will have to cut off at least a foot of trunk in the yard. This, as far as I'm concerned, is tradition.

I'm not a big fan of going to a lot and picking one pre-cut. There's no adventure to it. We usually lose two kids and a dog twice over before finding something (it's a big hill, there are woods nearby...you get the idea). It sort of makes sense now, though, with two of the girls away at school - you need the help to get you through that adventure. I'm less a fan of artificial trees - quite similar to the way I'm not a fan of fish as pets. I think they're a great idea when you can't have the real thing.

But...that's kind of changing. Something about being more aware of my carbon footprint. I don't know yet if I would switch to artificial trees in the name of saving our woodlands, but I'm kind of leaning that way. And I might be leaning more towards pre-cut, because, well, they're already cut, you can't save them, might as well use them. Maybe.

I've expressed the desire that, someday, I want to have my own house, on a property where I can plant trees. I can get into gardening, particularly with my Mom, but I love trees. I don't know them as well as I should, but I can learn. And, I think what I'd like to do, every Christmas, is get a tree. Doesn't have to be a Christmas tree, in fact, the more variety, the better. Whether this is making up for the tree that we've cut, or making up for the absence of life in an artificial one (I'm kind of all about life where some things are concerned), I don't know, but I want a tree.

And I'll find someplace to plant it. Every year, there'll be a new one. If I'm in that house for fifty years, well, there'll just have to be fifty trees on the property. Or, maybe I'll start making a project of finding places off the property to plant them. If my parents keep their house, there's a whole bank that needs some root systems to keep it from falling away and turning into swamp. That makes a little more sense - the point is having more trees out there, not just decorating my own place.

Some of them won't make it. But some of them will. I'm rather big on native species, but that's probably because I have a friend who's an ecologist. Actually, I get kind of excited looking up what the DNR has to say about native species, and fantasizing how I'd like to arrange them. I'm mildly annoyed by softwoods, like a few maples that made themselves at home on our property, because they're more of a hassle than a help, but at least they do some of what trees are supposed to do out there.

I just remembered - I want to live in the state where I was raised. You can't quite plant trees there in December. Very well, I'll get it the next May and call it a Christmas present. I'll have a box with a gift certificate from the local nursery.

It's not that I need to leave something behind with my name on it. I just need to leave something behind. With the kids, I know more than half of them won't remember me, but maybe something that I did will make a difference in their lives. With the trees, I don't care if people remember who placed them there - I just want them to be there after I go.

I can't save the world. But I'm still enough of an idealist to think that I can make a difference.

Anyway, I'm certainly not to the point of telling anyone else what they should have for their tree. I just have nostalgia warring with responsibility. I'm actually not sure - how much environmental damage is created by making a plastic tree? Probably not as much as cutting one down every year for however many years it would last.

On the other hand...I am at some point planning on having small squishy crawly ones around the house, and I think the plastic rendition is much less likely to shed needles to be eaten. I have the beginnings of a paper somewhere on poisonous plants that we love that are a really bad idea if you have pets or munchkins.

Anyway, this is one of those subjects that I'm rather opinionated about (although in multiple directions). Every time I post a rather opinionated blog, I'm left with the feeling that my beloved thinks I'm a loon, but fortunately for both of us, he knew I was a loon before we got together.