Photo of your Xmas tree thread

The wife and I got this the first Christmas we spent together married.  We thought the model couple was pretty attractive and never changed the picture.  It gets a little funnier every year.

this just in

...

decided to go all out this year...

Vermont's finest! 12 feet or so, only $44 up in the kingdom!

If that tree is 12 feet tall those kids are almost 6 feet tall.

If that tree is 12 feet tall those kids look a lot shorter than 6 feet tall. And they sure have great smiles!

Tree shortage this year has driven prices up. 

I was at Goodwill and got a fake tree for $15.

Calvin (my oldest) is just about 4 feet. Tree was 11+ and the stand added a couple inches. Thanks Judit!

I'll play, just finished it tonight...


Some of my fav ornaments...

This one is from Mtn Jam, artist in Haines Falls made it from the clay of Hunter mountain :)

This one was from weekend at Levon/Phil ramble in Woodstock, NY ( the first one)...



Here are a few made from recycled Christmas trees ...




a very special one from another zoner  to me...<3



and this one from Taxi Tour...what an awesome day that was !! ( I saw it in a lil shop window, not to be ignored...lol ).




One more for the road...handmade !









<3

Fun, lyn. I love the way christmas trees look.

I've only had one christmas tree in my life, maybe 1991 or '92. Greg had always had a tree so we had one here. He might have had a couple in years after that but I don't remember. I think they're really beautiful, smell good and are a great way for people to have fun and carry on tradition, but they have no meaning in my life. Some years we had greens from the conifers at Greg's place, but mostly not. And some years we lit Chanukah candles and some years not. I think we started lighting them 10 years ago consistently, but we didn't say the Hebrew prayers, we made up our own sayings that meant something to us. I hope we'll have a menorah and Chanukah thread in a week or so.

Lyn - I love the lightning bolt snow flake. 

The tree is really about the evening of decorating. Gather the family and lay on the floor tightening the little screws while everyone gives directions about which way to get it straight. Open the decoration box and get the Vince Guaraldi CD out and play Charlie Brown Christmas while we string lights and get the home made baby footprint on. The last step is for me to lift my now adult daughter to put the angel on the tree. I suppose some day she'll have to lift me. Been the tradition forever. 

Can one be an "environmentalist" and still go along with the typical Christmas tree thing?

Use a live tree?

Why not?

We have 4 acres of trees, although very few of them look as "nice" as a store-bought one. Every year I have to murder hundreds of young fir trees so they won't grow too thickly and sickly. Not a problem, environmentally speaking, to bring one inside for a while during its demise.

Even if you buy a tree, it usually comes from a tree farm. Holiday trees can be grown organically.Cutting one for your living room doesn't increase your carbon footprint, since the tree was going to die eventually anyway and release its carbon.

One could argue that the property used for growing Christmas trees could be used for a "higher" purpose, but around here anyway, when a tree grower gives up the business the land usually ends up covered with McMansions.

The US wastes nearly 50% of it’s annual agricultural production.  I’d guess that by that figure tree farms are a good thing.  

“They don’t like our freedom!”

Even if you buy a tree, it usually comes from a tree farm. Holiday trees can be grown organically.Cutting one for your living room doesn't increase your carbon footprint, since the tree was going to die eventually anyway and release its carbon.<<<<

Let's assume it does come from an organic tree farm, how does said tree get from "farm to table"?

However, your situation seems to be mostly "copacetic to environmentalism".

You gotta go get it.

Just like everything else you buy.

If one has to go and get it, doesn't the "carbon neutral" part of the equation disappear the second you turn the key to the ignition?

The best was when my friend got a permit to cut a live tree from the Gila National forest. Being an environmental sympathizer he picked a small Charlie Brown type tree that was growing under a larger tree.  He figured it had little chance of being a healthy tree.  So thin the herd, sacrifice the runt.   Well,....

when his wife saw the tree, she was like WTF is that stick doing in the living room?   She went out and bought a farm raised tree from the tree stand.

Two trees killed.  Merry Christmas.  

Said friend now works for USDA in Fort Collins...

 >>>>>doesn't the "carbon neutral" part of the equation disappear the second you turn the key to the ignition?

As I said, like anything else you buy.

Thanks Judit :), I am not a big "all out" Christmas decorator, but a tree for me is a walk down memory lane. I buy or obtain and make something from every special event in my life to hang on my tree at years end. I one year had a tree of all my ticket stubs turned into origami pieces, that was fun and my tree was much bigger ...;) I have a couple of VIP passes hanging now ( didn't want to seem pompous and post them tho ).  I unfortunately have to have artificial due to my asthma and moms COPD, I love the aroma of fresh greens so I use them on my porch outside ,  and doors. 

It is a ritual for me as well to decorate, I put on some good music and walk thru my past as I open each one ....makes me smile !   I have a begun tradition for some of my nieces and every year give them a special ornament that reflects something we did together that year...they love it. 

No one really comes to visit here ( 'cept Bob, and he don't give a rats ass 
about Christmas decorating...lol ) It is totally for me, to enjoy ...and that i do !


Stringtwang....you can get them here, some cool lot folks I  met and buy pins from, great gifts....everyone liked them last year...

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PiNSaNiTyDeSiGNS?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Last year for reference...  still haven't even set up a tree yet, due to ongoing renovation projects.   May just skip this year if it's not done by this weekend.   So behind... just don't have the time and not really feeling it anyway this year.  :/

Yep, them hippies love to make war on Yuletide.

LOVING it, Greg!!!

Nice photos, folks. 

No resizing for me or I'd share

Find mine on fb if we're friends. 

I AdOre it so

 Oh, and, Alex and I have been cutting our own tree for FIVE years now (:

Hi Jill!!! Congrats on the 5 years!

Tree is a work in progress. 

Real or fake?

I just went fake for the first time and now I'm wondering why buying a real dead tree from Homies makes any sense. You're just going to use it to hang memorabilia and lights and then compost it. It's a funny tradition. 

^Fake for the second year now. I still want real, I like the aroma, but the wife and kids like the fake.

I'll post more when it is erect.

 >>>I still want real, I like the aroma, but the wife and kids like the fake.>>>

Problem solved. 

There are a lot of xmas trees recycled to local lakes.  Crappie hang out by the tree.

^you find one in every car, highnote, you'll see.

>>>>>>>Calvin (my oldest) is just about 4 feet. Tree was 11+ and the stand added a couple inches.

Which is it?

Shaquille O'Neal is taller than that tree.

No way is that 12 feet.

Not bad a for a fake tree.. usually do a live one but we'll be out of town for the holidays..

Has anyone posted a pic of an Xmas tree thread yet?  

Nope.  Just a bunch of guys bragging about the size of their trees.

A 12 foot tree is impressive, but a  7-8 footer is nothing to be ashamed of.  In fact most woman would prefer the 7-8 range.

lol

mine's not a 12 but it's pretty fucking big

With the dog standing in front of the tree it does give a false prospective.  But that's a respectable tree and at least a solid 8 footer.  

Part of his front legs are cut off, so let's call it 8'6" .

5X Oliver rules, thanks!

So I got out the tape measure, its 11 feet, not 12. Sorry about that. I was told by the lady when I bought it as it came through the baler that it was 11, but now that I think about it, I did take about 6 inches off the stump right before it came in the house and trimmed about 6 inches of branches off the top so that the star would sit right. Here is one with a tape measure that 'goes to 11'! Nice trees everyone, even yours Timmy! In regard to the real vs fake debate, from Mother Jones:

A 2009 study by the consulting firm Ellipsos determined that “when compared on an annual basis, the artificial tree, which has a life span of six years, has three times more impact on climate change and resource depletion than the natural tree.” Some reports claim manufacturers use lead and other additives—which have been linked to liver, kidney, neurological, and reproductive system damage in animals—to make fake tree needles more malleable. A 2004 study in the Journal of Environmental Health on artificial trees and lead exposure among children concluded: “While clearly not an acute toxicity threat by themselves, a significant fraction of older artificial trees are probably exposing children and adults to enough lead to be at least a noteworthy public health issue.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/12/greenest-christmas-trees-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVBTfCJmQsA

I love you Phishie.  Thanks for playing along.

2017 Edition

Will you accept a picture of our menorah instead?

(note: it is not a 12 foot menorah)

...