Lately there’s been a few of those articles trying to tell the readers what is better for the enviroment, a ‘real’ Christmas tree or a plastic one (plus a few loopholes, at it were).

The main options are

1) Plastic tree
2) A ‘real’ dead tree from the forest
3) A living tree to put in the garden (at least if you live in California, which I don’t and many other people don’t either).

As I have told people in comments on articles over the past few years, we own a number of very old plastic Christmas trees that my parents bought in the 1980’s when no one knew how dangerous they were to the environment. I’m thinking that if you keep one of those toxic trees for 30+ years then maybe their danger has been spread over enough years to be forgiven?

I will never want to kill a real living tree to put in my living room, so since apparently the plastic trees are still out, because no one’s found a way of making them more environmentally friendly, my only option is

4) No tree at all.

Sure it’s a very nice idea to buy a real living tree and put it in one’s garden after Christmas, but I can assure people living in California that it would take dynamite to blast a hole in a Swedish December garden and that probably wouldn’t help a poor tree much. Besides, how many trees can you put in your garden before it turns into a town or city forest?

So that’s my position. Frankly, since this year we (my sister and I) decided not to do Christmas at all, I have felt so liberated. I really don’t want celebrate it again ever. Sure presents are nice, but you can get them at other times as well. Nice food is another thing I don’t object to, but to decorate the whole house for just a week or two – nah. It’s not for me.

I would like to end this post by saying that I don’t judge anyone for their Christmas tree-related choices. Do what you like and what your conscience allows you to do. It’s none of my business. This is my opinion.