The Christmas Tree Debate

The Real Deal vs "Old Fakie"

Photo via flickr

Growing up, our family flip flopped. We'd cut a huge tree one year, buy one the next and then haul out a sad, short old artificial one the year after. I think that with four kids, my parents just went for convenience.

Since moving out of my parent's house, cutting and decorating a real Christmas tree has become my guilty holiday pleasure. I love the smell of the pine and the glow of the lights, but some years I just haven't been able to justify the death of a tree for my (brief) benefit. I know that this is silly - they grow them for this purpose, but it still feels wasteful to me.

Photo via zimbio.com

I saw a TV special once where they showed the Rockefeller Center tree from start to finish. Apparently they send scouts out to scour the country and find the most perfect looking pines. This one was in a family's yard. The family talked about all of their great memories with the tree and showed old photographs with Gramps posing with the tree as a young boy. It had sentimental value. They were still excited to send it to New York.
I wonder, do they miss it?


photo via escobarshighlandfarm.com

Wondering if we should consider going fake to spare innocent carbon reducing trees, I did some research and found my guilt to be misplaced. I read several articles, but this one was my favorite (when the writer starts out comparing trees to breasts, you know you've got something). The greenest option is, as you would expect, to buy a live tree and then plant it. Buying from a local tree farm is second best, but still guilt-free shopping.



Oh, I feel so much better!