Christmas Tree

Tonight I saw a news story on Edmonton's latest "Tree of Lights". Brought in from Whitecourt, the tree now stands in Churchill Square, awaiting to be decorated with over 8,000 LED Christmas lights. Originally measuring 104 feet tall, this century-old tree is possibly North America's largest Christmas tree this year.

Forestry workers worked very hard and very carefully to cut the tree down and transport it intact to Edmonton. Apparently it was finally set up about 36 hours after they first started their work. And although I appreciate their hard work, and I appreciate the fact that the tree is brought here to bring more Christmas Spirit to the city, it makes me very sad that they had to cut such a beautiful, old tree down. With all the environmental awareness and concern many people seem to exhibit lately, I wonder what people would say?

I understand the tradition of having Christmas trees, but there are other alternatives to cutting real trees down. We stopped using real Christmas Trees a long time ago, and it hasn't affected our ability to celebrate Christmas at all. I actually have no guilt, which makes me happy. And we can reuse the same tree year after year - there is less expense. I know that you can't get an artificial tree that size and that nothing compares to a real tree, but I don't mind.

I don't know all the details, such as whether the tree would have been cut down for another purpose anyways, or what will become of the tree once Christmas is over(Paper? Wood chips?).

A woman quoted in the news story said that the tree looked as beautiful in the city as it would in the forest. To me it looked out of place. I just imagine it slowly dying throughout the Christmas season - I think it's a sad way to end after living for 100 years.