During my life I went through different phases of the
Christmas thinking. Each phase brought with itself a different look at the
Christmas tree.
I am a very traditionally oriented person when it comes to
holidays, as well as I am into the „classics“ of the romantic and nostalgic
Christmas. And with such, there always is a tree.
Christmas has never been a holiday of gifts, must go to
gatherings with relatives you don´t even know, and the stress related to
shopping. All these aspects, which are often the reason why many people don´t
like Christmas, has always successfully passed me by.
I also prefer natural over plastic or chemical.
So where do these thoughts lead?, you may ask. It leads me
to my today´s topic – the Christmas Tree.
You can assume (and you will be right) that I would prefer a
real Chrstimas tree over a plastic one. Yes. Most definitely. But being the
person I am, with a huge sense of respect to everything alive, I just never
could bring myself to willingly killing
a tree for it´s few weeks of „glory“.
My evolution in the annual quest of getting a Christmas Tree
went somewhat like this.
Phase 1
I would go with my family and cut a real tree in the woods.
I found it romantic and very classical and traditional. People have been doing
this for years. The sentimental aspect of bringing your chosen green beauty on
the sleigh through the snowy landscape to your door step, as we see it on post
cards, dominated my entire phase 1.
Phase 2
I realized that if every single person chopped a tree in the
woods to bring it to their homes for a few weeks of admiration, there would
soon be no trees left.
In phase 2 I became the responsible Christmas tree shopper
and went to places where they offered trees to chose from, usually ending up
with the smallest guy I had a huge pitty for.
But I hated the mess the falling needles created. And my
ethical criteria were not met. It was someone else chopping the trees down, but
it was still happening. So that led me directly to the smart Phase 3, where I
remained for a big part of my evolution process.
Phase 3
I was the responsible Christmas Tree buyer, who decided to
buy a tree from a specilized place. These trees were claimed to be grown and
designed for the one sole purpose – a few weeks of glory. But there were still
the needles making a mess, and more importantly, I started to feel bad about
growing something for the purpose of killing it, just for those few weeks of glory.
Phase 4 was enavaitable.
Phase 4
I felt really great in this stage of my Christmas Tree evolution.
I bought LIVE trees, from specialized places, grown just for this. It was a
long and happy phase. There were only few donwsides. One was the fact that these
trees were relatively small, so if I wanted a big, bushy, rich family Christmas
Tree, well, I could not have it this way. The smaller trees were charming
though, and it was fun to plant them on my parent´s garden in the spring. Some
of them actually survived and turned into majestic giants.
Also, the trees suffered a lot from the temperature changes.
But as I said, it was a long and happy phase. Until we moved
to Northern Sweden and this whole well working system fell apart. Live trees in
pots were no longer an option. They would have to be indoors since September
and if they theoretically survived, they would have to stay indoors until May.
It was time to improve. And invent phase 5.
Phase 5
Unlike all the previous phases, it was a sad part for us. We
decided to buy a fake, artificial, plastic tree. It actually looks very good,
but it´s a fake tree. It doesn´t make a mess and you can let it stand in the
living room until the Easter holidays.
You cannot have candles and firecrackers on it as it´s
artificial needles would melt and burn. But most of all, it doesn´t smell. It
has no Christmas smell!!! Sad, sad, was phase nr.5
And adding to the misery was the fact of environmental
impact from factories, making all those artificial Christmas trees and
decorations.
But the fate was kind to us. And brought us Phase 6. And
that is where we are now, for a few years already, so happy with the pros and
cons that we won´t feel the need for evolution for quite a while.
Phase 6
Is all about combining the ethical and practical and
traditional aspects of getting and having a Christmas Tree. The sentimental,
nostalgical, classic need for a Christmas Tree, that we pick ourselves and
bring from the woods through the snowy landscape, often on a dog sled or at
least the quad bike, is satisfied.
The no killing of a live creature for the few weeks of glory
requirement is met. The bitter feeling of watching a tree, that made it´s way
through the hardships of the Nordic climate, to be chopped and kept alive for
weeks of slow death is gone. Each and every time this reminds me of a story
that opened my eyes. I highly recommend you to read it. It´s from a book called
Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter. This story of a little American
Native boy, living with his Grandparents off the land, then being taken away
and put into the „unknown world“, also tells a tale of a Christmas Tree and how
a Native person, close and binded to the nature as can be, sees the whole
Christmas Tree thing. This story was my eye opener and led me to making a deal
with myself that I would never let a tree suffer from those few weeks glory.
The fact that many others treat trees as unlively means of
money, acutally allows me to enjoy phase 6. There are so many smaller trees ran
over by forest machines, making their way thorugh the woods in search of full
grown trees to kill. They are left there to die and they surely do, come the
first winter. Sometimes we are making a new trail or have to trim the existing
one for safety reasons. And sometimes mother nature brings a storm that breaks
trees. And they all are the adepts for our Christmas Tree. The beautiful,
glorious tree, that had a good purpose until the end, despite the fate.
All the kidding aside, I really am happy my Christmas Tree evolution
went this way, hand in hand with my philosophy and sense for ethics and
environment.
Are you also planning for a Christmas Tree this year? Why
not give it a bit of thought.
Have a very Merry Christmas and do not forget, what this
season is ALL about – love, family, giving, being generous, being kind. Not
really about the Christmas Tree.
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