Holidays has drawn to a close. Schools start, and work resume again. No matter how reluctant we are, everything goes back to normal. Come January, people take down their holiday lights that adorned their homes and disassemble holiday decorations and stow them away into storage. And most importantly, put away those trees so predominately scream "Merry Christmas!"
I never knew the true origin of Christmas trees until I visited "Germany" in Disney World's Epcot World Showcase in December when a cast member presented the story of the first Christmas tree.
One of the earliest stories relating back to Germany in 722 is about Saint Boniface, who encountered some pagans who were about to sacrifice a child at the base of a huge oak tree. He cut down the tree to prevent the sacrifice, and a Fir tree grew up at the base of the oak. He then told everyone that this lovely evergreen, with its branches pointing to heaven, was a holy tree - the tree of the Christ child, and a symbol of His promise of eternal life.
Another story about the origin of the Christmas tree says that late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope that spring would soon come.
Another legend says that one Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, Martin Luther he was walking through the snow-covered woods as he was trying to conjure up the content of his sermon for the next day and was struck by the beauty of the snow glistened trees. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moon light. When he got home, he cut down and set up a small fir tree and shared the story with his children. He decorated the Christmas tree with small candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ's birth.
Thus began the tradition of cutting down fresh fir or pine trees and hauling them into our homes. Before we even debate upon the notion whether a fir or pine tree has anything to do with Christ's birth, let's just concentrate on the topic of cut trees.
Since this is a widely spread tradition, it means that almost everyone does it. There are two popular options, you either buy a plastic one for more or less $250 that you can use year after year or you get a fresh cut one from a farm or a lot. For $50 a pop, you can fill the entire house with fresh pine fragrant for months. Plus, they deliver directly to your house. So you figured, why not, let's just get a fresh cut tree every winter.
But then Christmas is always coming and going, year after year, decade after decade.
Do people ever stop to think how long it takes to grow a Christmas tree? A typical Christmas tree grows a foot a year, averaging 10 years per tree. And after you cut it, how long does it last inside a house before it withers with pine needles dropping everywhere? At most 5 weeks. And there is the cost of renting a location to set up shop locally if the merchant does not own the land. Not to mention all the money and energy that is spend on hauling these fresh-cut trees from the farms to the shop to the homes.
So why waste all that money and resources and kill perfectly good trees by placing them at home to decorate, I ask you?
Check it out here and see how the Austin's locals adorn the trees on the roadside. It is such a green way of celebrating the holiday by displaying the joy out in public for everyone to see. And it is so refreshing to check out each and every tree every time we drive by and soak in the holiday cheer. "Keep Austin Weird" is this city's motto, and there are indeed some weird tree displays. There was a tree all decked out with Barbies - quite freaky really. One with crayons, one with Victoria's Secrets shopping bags among many others. These roadside Christmas trees would be such a great and free way to advertise a company by hanging up its company logos and/or products on a roadside tree. They always make sure the decorations are nice and secure and are always down when the holiday seasons are over, so there aren't any littering issues that I've personally witnessed thus far. I'd so love to see this great trend all around the globe.
Wouldn't you?
I never knew the true origin of Christmas trees until I visited "Germany" in Disney World's Epcot World Showcase in December when a cast member presented the story of the first Christmas tree.
One of the earliest stories relating back to Germany in 722 is about Saint Boniface, who encountered some pagans who were about to sacrifice a child at the base of a huge oak tree. He cut down the tree to prevent the sacrifice, and a Fir tree grew up at the base of the oak. He then told everyone that this lovely evergreen, with its branches pointing to heaven, was a holy tree - the tree of the Christ child, and a symbol of His promise of eternal life.
Another story about the origin of the Christmas tree says that late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope that spring would soon come.
Another legend says that one Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, Martin Luther he was walking through the snow-covered woods as he was trying to conjure up the content of his sermon for the next day and was struck by the beauty of the snow glistened trees. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moon light. When he got home, he cut down and set up a small fir tree and shared the story with his children. He decorated the Christmas tree with small candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ's birth.
Thus began the tradition of cutting down fresh fir or pine trees and hauling them into our homes. Before we even debate upon the notion whether a fir or pine tree has anything to do with Christ's birth, let's just concentrate on the topic of cut trees.
Since this is a widely spread tradition, it means that almost everyone does it. There are two popular options, you either buy a plastic one for more or less $250 that you can use year after year or you get a fresh cut one from a farm or a lot. For $50 a pop, you can fill the entire house with fresh pine fragrant for months. Plus, they deliver directly to your house. So you figured, why not, let's just get a fresh cut tree every winter.
But then Christmas is always coming and going, year after year, decade after decade.
Do people ever stop to think how long it takes to grow a Christmas tree? A typical Christmas tree grows a foot a year, averaging 10 years per tree. And after you cut it, how long does it last inside a house before it withers with pine needles dropping everywhere? At most 5 weeks. And there is the cost of renting a location to set up shop locally if the merchant does not own the land. Not to mention all the money and energy that is spend on hauling these fresh-cut trees from the farms to the shop to the homes.
So why waste all that money and resources and kill perfectly good trees by placing them at home to decorate, I ask you?
Check it out here and see how the Austin's locals adorn the trees on the roadside. It is such a green way of celebrating the holiday by displaying the joy out in public for everyone to see. And it is so refreshing to check out each and every tree every time we drive by and soak in the holiday cheer. "Keep Austin Weird" is this city's motto, and there are indeed some weird tree displays. There was a tree all decked out with Barbies - quite freaky really. One with crayons, one with Victoria's Secrets shopping bags among many others. These roadside Christmas trees would be such a great and free way to advertise a company by hanging up its company logos and/or products on a roadside tree. They always make sure the decorations are nice and secure and are always down when the holiday seasons are over, so there aren't any littering issues that I've personally witnessed thus far. I'd so love to see this great trend all around the globe.
Wouldn't you?
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