Tree 2004

Tree 2004
Originally uploaded by hamaker88.

O Xmas Tree
O Xmas Tree
You Make Me Feel
So Guil-ty...

I bought my tree on December 15 this year, which is really the ideal time for tree-buying. I argued with some friends last night about the perfect tree-erection scehdule (hmm, that doesn't sound right....) and the simple fact is that I'm right, and they're nuts. Setting up an Xmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving is loopy--if the tree's up for a month and a half, where's the excitement in that? And by the time Xmas arrives, the tree is so dry and brittle, no matter how much water you've applied to its oozing stump, that it now constitutes a major fire hazard in the living room. Ideally it should be bought between Dec. 10-15, and taken down on Twelfth Night. Anybody tells you anything different, you send them to me and I'll set them straight.

Now, I know some of you are saying, "But....aren't you Jewish, or something? Why do you have a tree at all, you poser?" The thing is, I'm the reverse of what Jeremy describes in his post on Christmas. I grew up in a secular protestant household, and while I made philosophical choices about my own religious beliefs which led me toward Judaism during my adolescence and adulthood, I find the rituals surrounding Xmas to be key for my enjoyment of the holiday season. I'm not talking dumb rituals like overextending my credit cards and indulging in rampant commercialism; these are the family rituals, such as baking the same cookies I enjoyed helping make as a child, hanging the stocking I've had since I was a baby, and buying and decorating a tree. The last has special meaning for me, for as a hard core environmentalist I've struggled with the idea of killing a live tree each year for my holiday enjoyment. I've thought of getting an artificial one, like so many of my friends, but the idea is kind of repellant to me. I like the smell, and I like the feel of the branches when I'm decorating it.... So I think of it in religious terms, this being a religious holiday. While I personally have a hard time accepting the idea that Christ died for my sins, I'm damn sure that this tree did. I appreciate that. It came from a tree farm, they cut them down at a certain size no matter what.... but if I bring it into my home for a month, decorate it, smell it, and appreciate it, then its sacrifice was not in vain!

How's that for spin?