Save the trees

In my family we used to celebrate Christmas with an overly large pine tree. It was such a hassle to tie it to the roof of the car and drag it inside getting sap and pine needles all over the place.  After several weeks the tree started to lose all its needles (mainly because it was dead) so we dragged it outside and kicked it to the curb along with copious amounts of wrapping paper and boxes left over from Christmas. It makes me sick to think of this whole process and how much stuff we threw away that could easily be recycled.

So after years of dealing with real trees, we resorted to a large fake Christmas tree, the one that required 12 different levels of circular color-coded branches that would occasionally fall apart or get lost so that year after year the tree began to look more and more like a stump than an actual pine tree.  I despised our fake Christmas tree it was such a pain in the neck to put together and most the time it made you forget about the joys of the holiday season. To add to the frustration,  The boxes that it came in took up nearly a quarter of our attic space. The whole process of making the fake look real was downright pointless and time consuming.  Decorating should be fun and most of all you should enjoy doing it and enjoy the end product.  

So this year I did some research on different trees you can purchase or create in your home. A smaller real christmas tree would be more ideal, less expensive and more eco-friendly than a large tree. Each year, 33 to 36 million large Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. That’s a lot of energy and resources wasted on the production of Christmas trees that get thrown away in the end.  But so is the production of many things  that are produced for consumption.  I decided the best approach is to stick to what creates the less waste and space. 

Choosing a smaller tree over a large tree is definitely a smarter decision. I found a tree that comes in a pot and can be re-planted after its done being used for Christmas.  You can order it or pick it up at a gardening store and decorate it at home, then after Christmas you are not throwing it in the garbage.

The German designer  of the Buro Tree is another innovative tree idea. He made a lightweight Christmas tree that is easy to assemble, takes up virtually no space, is made of recycled materials and can be decorated. 

There are limitless options for creating anything and if you don't mind breaking a few traditions, the end result is fascinating!  This year I created a chalk Christmas tree with a friend of mine.  The wall was painted with chalk paint and we decorated the tree to the size of the wall. Accenting it with ornaments and lights, made of chalk!  It was a fun project that captured the Christmas Spirit.