I used to be the Christmas tree enthusiast in the family. I’d drive around Seattle for hours looking for the perfect tree, set it up, decorate it.
Pinyon pine Christmas tree
Revering evergreen trees during the darkest time of year (for the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) is still about the only part of Christmas (besides the light theme) that makes any sense to me. But buying a monocultured, sheared Christmas tree raised in herbicide-drenched soil doesn’t do it for me anymore.
I’d be happy cutting a wild tree where the forest needs some thinning but we don’t usually get around to that. Some years, I’ve collected fallen boughs in local parks and hung them, along with lights and decorations, around the living room. Other years, I’ve decorated small live conifers and later planted them in my Portland yard. But I’ve run out of room in my yard for more conifers and would rather spend my time writing poetry and playing music than arranging branches and lights around the room.
Luckily, we now have a place out in northeastern Oregon with plenty of room to plant trees. So this year, I bought a live pinyon pine. It’s small, simple, and needed only one string of lights. It’s suited to the dry climate out there and will, if I get a mate for it, provide edible nuts some day.
Happy Holidays to all my readers. May you enjoy whatever it is that gets you through this time of year.
Coming soon: a celebration of wild evergreen trees
That’s a great idea, Liz! Instead of hacking down a tree every year for Christmas, decorate a young one that can then be planted. If only more people thought that way…
Thanks, Jason. It’s hard to do without having room to plant the trees. But it worked out well for us this year.