I have just received the following email from my daughter...

Quote:

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I'm sure that you will find it most amusing that I now have one of the world's most tasteless Christmas trees next to my desk. When I was away on Friday the office was decorated and my room was left naked, but someone took pity on me today so I now have a fake tree (green at least) with a variety of horrible baubles, scraggy tinsel and fake flowers, coloured lights as well as the world's ugliest fairy, naked and wrapped in tinsel on top of the tree. And a 'Merry Christmas' garland above my desk. Clearly I am being made to do penance for years of inflicting strictly colour coded and tasteful Christmases on others!

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Well our Scots pine is in the back yard, letting it settle in, in a bucket of water, until the weekend when we'll bring it in! Mum is the decoarator of the tree, Dad sometimes makes sure the tree is in the stand and checks the fairy lights. The tree always has home made, plastic canvas, decorations, and always looks (to me!) perfect. Then, underneath the tree (as well as all the presents) goes two snowmen (one knitted and one furry) and a "silent Santa". Santa used to have batteries in him and repeat everything anyone said. For some reason he is more popular now he is silent!

We have always had a real tree, and my daughter has strung popcorn strands for the last few years. The key to doing it easily is to make the popcorn ahead of time and let it get rather stale and chewy. That way it can be strung without breaking off, etc. and making a ton of mess and frustration. I love the way it looks!

This has brought back to mind my colour schemed trees, from the days before I was married. I had a small artificial tree at that time, and I used red and white lights, popcorn and cranberry strings (I agree, stale popcorn is the way to go!) and those little German ornaments - mostly made of red felt and cotton batting - elves skiing and so on. So much more tasteful than my trees these days!

My husband had a bachelor uncle, who in spite of living alone and being up in years always put up a Christmas tree. He would go out and chop down a tree from his property, usually a leafless birch, and the hardest looking sight. Then he would decorate it with the large outdoor type Christmas lights, strings of popcorn and a few paltry ornaments he had gathered up over the years. A stranger going into his home would have thought it hideous, I'm sure, but we always though it was beautiful. I guess because he took the effort when many others wouldn't have bothered. He loved Christmas. We miss him.

I remember hearing a story years ago - regrettably the details are now a bit fuzzy - that Redd Foxx (or was it Red Skelton?) used to keep a Christmas tree up all year long as a reminder that "goodwill towards men" shouldn't be a seasonal thing and that we should be nice to people every day, not just at Christmas!

Or perhaps Red Buttons MotherG?

OOops did I add that I have a little 'grove' of my own out back of seven enormous redwood trees? I think this is why I don't crave a real tree in the house.
I think they're all up to about four stories high now.
This is the first house we've had of our own, therefore, the space and those trees were a selling point for us.
I guess I'd never had trees of my own for so long.
They are home to many birds, squirrels and other creatures. My rabbit likes to hop around their roots.

I can always cut a few branches off of them and use them for the smell and greenery.
They do have the mulch program.

I am like the Charlie Brown Christmas program where someone takes the scrawniest tree and adopts it as it needs love. I just can't imagine throwing it out to get mulched! Weird but true. The guy across the street had his redwood cut down recently. It was like the chainsaw massacre for me and I could not watch.

I would be worried Heather, very worried, if I had large trees near to my house. My understanding is that root systems can be very damaging to pipes and the like which you have servicing your home. I hope to goodness that I was mis-informed.