Is it too early to start talking about Christmas yet?  I try to refrain because here in the USA holiday decorations start to go up the very next day after Halloween!

Every year this debate comes up:  The Christmas Tree!  Do you buy a real one or go plastic.

I actually think this debate was settled or at least a very convincing opinion was given by advice maven Umbra at Grist.org (I LOVE her column), and through her I even learned that there is such a thing as an organic Christmas Tree!

But alas dear readers I sit her writing with a bag over my head (canvas, of course) because I have a plastic tree!!  I’ve had it for YEARS.  I NOW know that real trees come from sustainable forests, but I didn’t know back then.  I thought I was doing the right thing by buying a plastic (oh the horror) tree, plus it really came down to economics with me.  I just couldn’t afford a real tree on a student’s budget, so I knew a fake tree would pay for itself over time (and it has).

But for those of us who inherited a fake one, take heart in knowing that you are at the very least reusing and recycling.  Even Jim Motavalli, the editor of E, The Environmental Magazine, brings out his fake tree he inherited from his grandparents. (source: Washingtonpost.com 11.29.07-The Greening of Christmas)

If you do not already own a fake tree, don’t go buy one.  I strongly advocate for the real thing.  Unfortunately here in America fake trees are gaining in popularity!  Good grief people, did you not learn anything from A Charlie Brown Christmas, besides you just can’t replicate that real tree scent and that actually is the best part about the tree anyway!