Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Holidays!
It is Christmas Eve today, tomorrow for many people will be a quiet day, and for others the busiest day of the year. For my wife and I it will be quiet, we have a big Thanksgiving, that way all the kids (ours) can spend the day with their kids and visit the other grandparents. We've been doing it this way for 25 years or so since the babies were born. We now have a bunch of grandkids from the age of 1-1/2 years to 23 years old and graduating from college in May. We will have one grandson, he and I both have the flu this year, yes we both got the vaccine, he's still in bed and I'm recovering OK. |
| Manzanita Bush used as a Christmas Tree. What do you think about using one? I think I've changed my mind. |
The tree we decided to use is:
The tree is doing fine, I somehow convinced my wife to use one of the potted Coniferous Trees from the yard, it's in a huge pot, we moved the entire ensemble into the living room. It is working out very well, it's still green and healthy, however, I don't believe I will succeed in convincing her to leave it in the house all year around. I'm not sure what kind it is, it's a pine tree, it looks like a "Charley Brown" Christmas tree in the photo. |
| Actually, Mesquite looks good as a Christmas Tree, however, they are too big for indoors. |
Then a suggestion for next year, already:
I suggested to my wife this morning that we should consider using a "Manzanita" bush next year, I have known people that have. It's not legal to cut them down in the National Forest or Yosemite, it is greatly frowned upon, there are plenty of other places where they are available. They grow all over the foothills, at the slightly higher levels off the valley floor, they make really good campfires, hot fire and they burn a long time. It makes good charcoal and Bar-B-Ques very well, they are not the same plants. Manzanita is classified as a bush, native to the dry lower slopes of the Sierra's, Mesquite is a Tree, native to the entire Southwestern United States, they also grow in the desert region. Manzanita has a pretty red outer wood, very thin bark, in fact, it appears to have no bark at all, when it dry's it is hard to cut. Mesquite has darker bark, more established, and is literally a tree, I've not known anyone that has used one for a Christmas Tree, I suspect someone somewhere has, if you know of someone please leave a comment.
A Tumbleweed works as well:
I have known people to use "Tumbleweed" for a Christmas tree, they are OK, creative people work wonders with them. It seems like there would be a lot of cleanup with Tumbleweed, it's dry, big, seedy and brittle. I've seen people that have used them to build "snowmen" out of, that's pretty neat and attractive in the yard. |
| Tumbleweeds make good looking "snowmen", this one is painted white. |
When the parties over then disposal:
After Christmas day it's time to figure out when to dispose of the tree, all good things must come to an end. It's kind of funny how fun it is to get the tree in the early part of December, then comparing it to when the Holiday is over and impatient to dispose of them. There are groups who will pick up Christmas Trees from the curbside.*Our municipal garbage collection agency does, it's one of those things I have to educate myself in each year due to policy changes and my faulty memory. Our collectors will pick up the tree if it is cut into lengths on longer than 4 feet long, fairly straightforward. A lot of times the garbage company makes directions for special pickups complicated, so it's best to check with your provider to find out. In our case, we have a one-shot try, they pick them up one day if it's missed, well too bad for me.
*The Boy Scouts will pick up the trees for a small donation, I'm a fan of the Boy Scouts and will support them whenever possible, they don't have a big presence on our island, but they still collect them.
*We can take them to the dump, for a fee, they, in turn, convert them into "Compost" or solid fuel for an electrical generation plant that burns wood.
*The last option is to cut it up into woodstove lengths and burn it during the winter, if it's permitted in your area, we heat our house with wood so that is a real option for us.
How do we determine when to get it out of the house?
Everyone has their preferences on disposal of the tree when we use a "cut tree" it was taken out of the house shortly after Christmas day. Sometimes we leave it up until after the New Years holiday, but that is dependent on how dry it is. The threat of fire is low from a tree bursting into flames in the living room, safer lights, more safety awareness, and fresher trees are a few of the factors making them safe. When the needles dry out and start dropping from the tree like snowflakes, it's pretty much time to take it outside.
How apt are they to start a fire?
One caution is that is a dry tree does start on fire in a living room of a home, it has the ability to totally engulf the room in under one minute, we have about 3 minutes to get out of the house. But as remarkable as it sounds most Christmas Tree fires are contained in the room they started in, but that is dependent on how close the fire department is as well. All the same, if the tree is kept watered, and is inspected every day, it's probability of remaining safe is fairly high, if we keep an eye on it. Just exercise your self-reliance skills and common sense, it will be fine. (Link to National Fire Protection Association)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, most of all have fun.
I am making this blog short, I have the flu, and I mostly want to wish everyone a very Happy New Years, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thank you for reading and sharing, leave a comment or a story. Thank youjacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com
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