Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Forest of the Already Cut


These Christmas trees were cut and available for sale since before Thanksgiving. Cool weather and pots of water must be enough to keep them fresh. By contrast, the Danish tradition is to put up and decorate the tree on Christmas Eve, then leave it up for the ensuing twelve days of Christmas. Then, after the Epiphany (commemorating the visit of the Three Wise Men) on January 6th, it is removed.

My Danish ancestry influenced our celebrations growing up, and we always opened our presents on Christmas Eve, as they do (or did). But our tree always went up ahead of time.

8 comments:

Dina said...

Nice! What's the cost of a Christmas tree these days? I miss the smell and sight of them.

Pat said...

These are nicely shaped trees. After years of buying potted trees and planting them in our building's yard and watching them die, no matter what, I've opted for an artificial tree. Not the same, but spares me the grief of gazing down on a needleless pine.

Babzy.B said...

i love chrismas tree ! these are beautiful ,we buy one each year ,he has to be big and dense !

Jill said...

My Dad always took us to the woods where we would find and cut a pine tree. He would always choose the most symmetrical one he could find. I loved the fragrance that filled the house.

Sarah said...

Lovely custom!
I alway liked the Christmas trees.We have such custom for our new year,too.You may hear/read about Nowrooz.This is the persian new year.I have waited for our new year to post my photos from our Nowrooz table!

USelaine said...

Dina - I didn't look at the prices!

Bibi - Hmmm. I wonder if it has to do with the time of year that you plant them?

Babzy - I like to see the creative ways people decorate them.

Jill - I've heard of people who prune the trees while they are still growing, then come to harvest them when the time is right. They do smell good!

Sara - I look forward to learning about Nowrooz!

Thank you all!

Petrea Burchard said...

We wait to buy our tree until at least the 15th. Want it to be fresh. I suppose it's already been cut by late November, no matter when we buy it though.

Dina, last year we went to the YMCA and bought a tree for $45. The ones at the local lots were at least $65 for smallish trees. Probably less outside of the Los Angeles area.

Susie of Arabia said...

Those trees are really beautiful. You're making me homesick!