An atheist at Christmas

Here is a disconnect: I love Christmas, and I am not a Christian. I was raised Christian, but life and logic, among other things, has changed my views. So, what right have I to Christmas, especially being an eco-minded individual? Are the cynics right, is Christmas just another holiday built around shopping?

Of course, Christmas is not perfect, presents make me nervous - even if its just a book I worry about packaging that I can't recycle and won't biodegrade. And I stress about getting too much stuff. Luckily I do not have the stress that comes from last minute shopping - I start thinking about Christmas presents around November, or whenever I see something someone might like. There is also the stress of being with family and reality not meeting expectations or desires.

And yet, I love the Christmas season. I love a lot of the songs (though not played ad infinitum while I'm at work... sung by annoying children). I love winter and the foods you eat and snuggling up to a fire reading Christmas stories or watching sappy Christmas movies. Snow and layering on clothes and mulled wine and spiked cider. Making and decorating cookies and finding the perfect gift and making cards. I even enjoy the Christmas Eve service at church.

This year I was not able to go home and see my friends and family, so this Christmas has been a bit lackluster for me. I managed to get some fir branches from a church that was selling trees to put in a vase, I put my few Christmas cards on a shelf, and that has been the extent of my decorations. I haven't looked at lights or gone to see the gingerbread house displays at Disney or anything else festive. The only thing I have done to celebrate the day (aside from gifts of course) is to have Christmas Eve dinner with my bosses and their family, and afterward go with them to Christmas Eve service at church. I enjoyed that. I now know why I enjoy that service; while spending time with their family at dinner and at church I was surrounded by such a warm feeling of family and community and love and peace. It did not matter that they were christian and I am not. Perhaps I enjoyed it because I was raised in a similar environment, and although it is in my past, it is still a part of me. I guess I could test this theory by participating in a Buddhist or some other religion's ceremony to see if I feel the same, or if it is too foreign.

Despite enjoying the service, I still was not sure if I had a right, as a non-christian, to the holiday. Surprisingly enough, it took a sappy Christmas song on my way home to make me realize that I do have a right to Christmas. [side note: Christians, even if you do not agree with my reason for thinking an agnostic/atheist has a right to Christmas, consider: I have as much right to take back a holiday as you did to take it many centuries ago] The song was "Do They Know Its Christmas?" by Band Aid. Maybe it helped that I was primed from listening to John Henry Faulk's Christmas Story on NPR. There might have been another song on that helped get the point across, but it was during that song that I realized that Christmas is about love - for your family and friends and neighbors, and peace and giving. Not just the capitalistic, mad rush to buy a shiny new *thing*, but giving from the heart, and charitable giving. Its about setting aside differences and realizing we are all humans, and learning to coexist peacefully. Its what the Grinch and George Bailey learned. I suppose if I had watched my favourite Christmas movies I would not have had to figure this out on my own.

Granted, these are values we should consider more than once a year, but like Valentines and Thanksgiving or Mother's Day, its good to set aside a day to remind us about these things. And, what would life be if we did not have holidays and traditions to look forward to? If each day was like the next. Or there were only part days like New Years.

That is what I feel anyways. I know I will never convince the cynics who think it is just another mass market capitalistic attempt to get us to spend. And I'm sure I would get a different response from the coalition of put the Christ back in Christmas. But at least I have figured out why I love it, and that it is ok.

In search of a "green" Christmas tree

Halloween has just ended, and stores and theme parks are decorating for.. Christmas. Yes, Thanksgiving has not yet come, and it has been pushed aside in place of the impending holidays. And so, although the holiday is more than a month away, I find myself offhandedly planning for Christmas. Eco cards and eco gifts and the one that has still eluded me, the eco tree.

I love live Christmas trees, but as I live in an ultra tiny apartment, I do not think I could get a cut one small enough. This thought - the necessary smallness of the tree - naturally leads me to think of Emmit Otter and their "Christmas branch". Why cut down a whole tree? I could decorate just a branch instead! The pitifulness of a Christmas branch actually appeals to me. I worked at a.. plant place once (not garden center, what would one call The Organized Jungle?) and at Christmas time we sold trees. In order to get them ready a certain amount of trimming was necessary, and they were more than happy to give away the trimmings. So, I suppose I could find someplace that sells trees and get a few branches for free (they lasted forever in a vase of water and made great wreaths).

Actual live trees (or shaped shrubs or rosemary) with roots are an excellent choice and they are the right size, but I have no yard or porch for it to live on. I don't think one could even survive in my apartment until after Christmas when I could give it away. If you have the space for it though, rosemary trees can be easily transplanted in the yard and require only well drained soil and sun. Another great option is the Easter Red Cedar which is native to Florida, is drought tolerant, and resembles has a Christmas tree shape when young.

Recently I fell in love with tacky artificial trees, and it is in that direction that I am looking this year. I like the look of some tinsel trees, but as I can not find out what they are made of, I have decided to go with something that has perhaps started the tacky Christmas tree tradition: the Aluminum Christmas Tree. If I get a vintage one its reused so no raw materials or energy were used to produce it, its recyclable, and probably biodegradable too. I'm not sure how it will look with some eco ornaments (I think aluminum trees look best with tacky retro ornaments) but I'll let you know!

Another tree option I've fallen in love with is the feather tree. To me they actually look less tacky than tinsel or fake trees. If they're white they make me think of soft fallen snow. I say white because I think it was a pink feather tree that made me fall in love with them. My hesitation with feather trees comes from the fact that I do not know if they are cruelty free or not. How are the feathers acquired? Does someone gather them as they fall, or are they plucked? How green is a feather tree? I have to do more research. I hope they are green, because the glory of getting a two foot or less tree, is that you have room for more.

Christmas tree option number five is very simple, minimalist and affordable. Back in the days when I was an interior plant maintainer I got to explore some very interesting upper class homes. One of my favourties was the house of Ed and Ed. They had great taste in art and since I had their key and came early, I never saw them (except the time I came too early...). I do not remember any of my clients Christmas Trees, except Ed and Ed's. One, (I do not remember if it was real or artificial) had a teddy bear theme, but the other was the best idea for an eco friendly affordable tree. It was simply a few large branches with smooth black bark (beech?) stuck into a plain black pot decorated with glass icicles and little else. As I'd rather not spray paint the branches, my only question is from what kind of tree should I get these branches? Something with a smooth bark, and strong enough to support a few ornaments.

Or, I'll be the grinch, and there will be no tree.
But if I do get one, I will add pictures when I find it!