Christmas trees...

A rather hilarious blog mentioned the joys of a live tree (Junk Drawer, check it out!)
Here is a photo of our tree, with most of 10,000 strands of tinsel on it. (some have already migrated to other places). You can't really appreciate the shiney-ness of that much tinsel except in person.

I am an artificial tree person, after one sneezing, allergy ridden Christmas years ago, I have always had artificial trees. BUT my hubby has always stalked and killed his own tree for Christmas. Sooo for the last 4 years we have had a real tree. AND he loves tinsel..lots of it. You think needles are forever? try getting tinsel out of carpet, off drapes, etc. It gets everywhere. My brother came over, and he called when he got home to tell me he found tinsel in his house. Some how it migrated without him even knowing it.

We will also have to pick every bit of tinsel off that tree when we take it down. Tinsel isn't biodegradable. What tinsel we don't capture then, will show up in various odd places, partly because that cat loves to play with it, and stashes it in corners, but also because nothing has static cling like thin sheets of aluminum foil. We will empty the dryer, and find it stuck to all the shirts. It will somehow get to every bit of carpet in the house and weave itself in to hide. It has a life and mind of it's own. Have you ever walked by a tree with tinsel? It will lift up as you go by and wave, don't be taken in! If you get close enough, it will leap onto you, and ride you as an escape pony to the outside world.

The first year we did this, I fought the tinsel! I swept, it tangled in the broom. I vacuumed, it broke the machine. It hid in closets, to leap out at me months later. Now after 4 years, I let it roam free and don't worry about it. Plus Hardwood floors help to keep it contained a bit. In any case it's hard to worry about tinsel so much when you have muddy barn boots and hay in your living room. (notice the boots next to the tree).

No doubt this weekend we will take the tree down, and send it off for recycling. Not as much fun as what my husband used to do in his old neighborhood. Everyone there had live trees, and saved them until a suitable sat night, when the air was clear, and beer was cold, and held a big Bonfire of The Christmas Trees. The whole neighborhood then stood around the fire, talked, ate and drank beer while kids ran around in the dark playing.

Can't do that here, but I wonder if we could, would more people want real trees?