Christmas Trees

There was a bit of a discussion about what kind of tree to get this year. Last year's tree was nice and pretty when we bought it, but seemed to dry out too fast in our desert-like apartment. Every time I looked in the direction of the tree some needles would fall off of it. The cats were walking around with piles of needles on their backs from too many trips to the Christmas-Tree-Tea Oasis. By Christmas Eve we were looking at a stick with some ornaments on it.

I tried to do some research on what kind of conifer would do best in conditions similar to that of the Sahara with gray skies. I was also going for a specific shape. I really wanted a vintage style shrubby, scrubby, pear shaped tree. I found two helpful articles about what species are traditionally used for christmas trees: one on about.com and another on wikipedia.

Abies fraseri seems to be the most popular. I also considered Pinus sylvestris.

Other species include:
Abies balsamea
Abies concolor
Pinus strobus
Picea glauca
Picea pungens
Juniperus virginiana
and trees of the Pseudotsuga genus.

After much consideration, I decided on a specimen of the name Ebai searseventia (common name: 1970's Sears tree from Ebay). I love it! It will not dry out or drop needles, and if I'm going to go fake I want it to look really fake and kitschy. So I got what I wanted. At first Steve was really reluctant. He said that my tree looked like a broomstick with pipe cleaners. But after we put all of the decorations and lights on, it all turned out okay. Plus, it cost less than a nice, real tree purchased in Chicago would. Also I'm not sure how GREEN the act of using a real tree is... I guess if you recycle it, it's okay... but it seems like a big waste of energy. I wonder if there are fake trees made out of sustainable materials. Anyhow, I feel good about reusing this tree that someone purchased a long time ago.

Monkey & Elvis seem to approve, though they aren't getting their annual dose of tree-tea.