In November, I was walking through the the city while the Christmas market was being prepared. Huts were being built, woodchips brought in and Christmas trees arranged. Lots of trees! Like, seriously, a rediculous amount! And then I saw how all those trees were fixed, so they wouldn’t fall over. They each stood in a wooden box filled with cement that had been poured around their trunks. It was weirdly disturbing, almost dystopian, to see a formerly living thing being poured into cement. I felt oddly empathetic, as if I could almost feel the cold hard stone around my own ankles. Christmas has long shifted from being a time dedicated to reflection, love and empathy towards consumerism perfectionism and stress.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas, I really do! My inner child relishes in all the (family) traditions and is fiercly protective of some of them. I love when the scents of cinnamon and chocolate meet candle smoke and pine needles. When I can read by the candle light and drink tee and be cozy. Though I do not usually have my own Christmas tree, I bring in some twigs I put into a vase and craft an Advent wreath. I also I love putting up and decorating the tree at my parents house.
But maybe, maybe we should step back and question what we have been doing? Maybe there is a better way? Maybe we don’t need to cut down half a forest of young trees to create a fake forest in the city, where we can sip our mulled wine in? Is the “proper Christmas mood” enough of a justification for this atrocity? Maybe no one would even notice if it were just half the trees at the christmas market? Maybe not every little square and official building needs one? Maybe we could do without the water and pesticides wasted?
While I can’t do much about the poor trees at the christmas market, accept protest on their behalf, at least there are more sustainable options available for the living room. Friends of mine get their tree from the “Aktion Weihnachtwald” (https://aktion-weihnachtswald.de/) a local project, where for every christmas tree they sell from the pine mono culture, a more diverse and sustainable selection of trees are planted in order to give the land back to nature tree by tree. These friends also set it up and decorate it early in December and keep it well watered to maximize the time they can enjoy it.
At my parents house, we’ve had the same, living, growing little tree for the past couple of years. It lives in a huge pot in the garden most of the year and spends a few days around Christmas eve in our living room, beautifully decorated (by me) with ornaments and candles and regularly watered, so it survives the stress. When we first discussed this option a few years ago, my nostalgic inner child screamed out in fear for its beloved ceiling-high Christmas tree. I admit, it was odd at first, when it was so tiny, but over the years I’ve grown to love it. Some other friends have found more creative solutions and crafted or were gifted, decorative, reusable trees from wood. At first they function as an advent calendar and later they provide a place to put the presents under. You can enjoy some of them in the foto galery in this post.
Whether you have a tree and whatever shape it may take, we wish you happy holidays and a happy new year!
Elisa