Fake Xmas trees and other holiday decorating - less is more?

We had real trees in the first few years of our family. My parents certainly did, and I'm not sure that fake plastic trees were even commonly available back then. Wikipedia tells me that aluminum trees and other fakes certainly were available, and I do recall seeing some of those in stores, but we never liked the looks of them.

There is controversy about the use of plastic trees. I think that as these usually have a long life cycle, their impact is probably relatively small even if not recycled. They certainly are more convenient; having no fallen needles to vacuum up is also and advantage.

We always used to worry about trees catching on fire - a famous MythBusters episode showed that has little to do with the type of tree and everything to do with overloading extension cords - or stupidly using real candles!

But for me, the issue is simply that I don't like killing things, even something as insentient as a pine tree. No, I don't spend the Christmas season weeping over the carnage in our forests, I simply don't feel right about killing something only for my amusement. We aren't going to eat the tree, it won't help provide us warmth or shelter; I simply don't want to kill it for such a shallow reason.

The cynic in me wonders how many living things are killed by the production and disposal of plastic. Who would have thought Xmas trees would ever become an issue of morals?

Moral vacillating aside, at some point we bought a realistic looking plastic tree and that became the new focal point of Christmas for us. In early December I would move some furniture out of the living room and haul the tree box out of our cellar where it was stored. We would reassemble it (it broke down into sections and the branches folded up for easier storage) and string it with lights and other decorations.

I see now that you can buy pre-decorated trees. Where is the fun in that? Where are the memories? Oh, well.

A tradition passes

Sometime after the kids were gone, we stopped putting up that large tree. It was a year where too much was going on, too much to do, not enough time. We just cleared some space on a side table and put up a miniature Christmas tree on that. Presents were piled on the table and on the floor. The tree was still our focal point, it was just smaller.

That was supposed to be just one year, but when the next year rolled around, we remembered how much easier that small tree had been, so we did it again. And again on the next Christmas.

2004, Gifts No More

It was 2004 when our youngest daughter made the suggestion that has bound our family ever since: why have the stress and expense of giving gifts? Why not just get together for a quiet family dinner? The chant "2004, Gifts no more" echoed through our small family. We adopted that idea and have stayed with it ever since.

So now the small tree was not surrounded by gifts. It didn't look right to us, so we visited a doll house store and bought some miniature toys to put around it and also wrapped up some small blocks of wood in colored foil. That was our Xmas tree for 2004 and a few years that followed.

When we moved to this over-55 community in 2005, we actually moved in on Christmas Eve. There was no time for decorations that year, but we did find a new spot for the miniature tree and its presents on the following year. We even put another small plastic Christmas tree on a table on our porch that we lit at night during the season.

But last year even those small trees seemed to be too much effort. We have some lighted presents on the front porch, candles in the windows and a few other decorations here and there, did we really need the trees? We decided not.

Will we do the same this year? I don't know. We will see.

A twinge of nostalgia

It's too bad we gave away that big tree. Maybe someday we will be overcome by a sentimental urge and would like to haul it out again, drape its boughs with lights and hang the old family ornaments, some of which have survived from my childhood in the 1950's. But that tree is gone and I doubt the urge would ever be strong enough to bring us to buying another large tree.

No, we will likely stay with simple. We aren't doing the family dinner this year either because my wife's medical problems make that too difficult, but we will be seeing family, of course.

I wish you all a merry holiday season. May the New Year be a good one for you and yours!

Do you know someone who should be reading this? Click the Share button below to send it to them easily or to post it to Facebook or Twitter.