The price of a natural, fresh cut or cut-your-own Christmas tree grew out of bounds. So my spouse and I decided that we’d try something else. A local greenhouse/ garden center had an end-of-season sale on trees, and we bought a three-foot-tall Alberta spruce for much less than a fresh-cut Christmas tree.
It wasn’t that we felt a budget pinch or were in a draconian mood about holiday extravagances. It was the thought of all the years of trees composted at the fenceline of our property.
The little spruce came home with us. We carefully dug a hole for it and plunged it into the ground. It’s been carefully mulched around with hay to protect it from drying winds. We’ll move the mulch aside early next week and bring it in for a two-week visitation. After which, it will return to its hole and be carefully mulched again.
It’s feet shorter than our usual trees have been. And the boxes of ornaments will have to be culled for the most favorite. One thought we’ve had is long holiday swags over the doorways with the other decorations. So instead of the usual large train around the base, there will be a tiny wind-up circle.
It’s still Christmas; the feeling hasn’t changed, but the details – like everything else in life changes. Well, let’s not sweat the details.
I wanted to buy a live tree for my place but my kids said they had no way to keep one alive afterward so I opted for the fake, pack it away until next year tree. I like your idea so much better. Digging the hole ahead of time is brilliant. Of course we’ve already had a couple of snows. I dug up many trees from the forest that had no chance of seeing daylight and replanted them in my yard. I’ve been back to see how huge they have grown. I did get permits to dig up the saplings.
The people we bought from had lots of advice for us on how to do this. But we live at the edge of a wooded sanctuary, and the reason the bak of the lot is a woodland garden is that we have many more trees than we really need…even though I love trees.
You can never have too many trees. They are my favorite friends. I actually sent another blogger I’ve been following for years a donation to plant more trees on her farm for me. I’m one of those tree huggers everyone complains about. 🙂