A Green Home: Naked Christmas Tree

Reader Contribution by Jaci Kennison
Published on November 30, 2010
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Jaclyn Kennison is a freelance writer living and playing in the Black Hills of South Dakota. She owns and manages an art gallery and event venue between fits of shopping and redecorating.

I am definitely the green sheep in my family. I wash my re-sealable plastic baggies, I buy everything second hand, and I decorate mostly with things I find in the forests of South Dakota’s beautiful Black Hills.

Every year about this time I haul out boxes of hand-me-down holiday décor and the excitement that bubbled up in me at the prospect of decorating quickly fizzles out as I stand staring into a tote full of bargain bin Christmas ornaments and plastic greenery. I just can’t quite embrace the idea of assembling an artificial tree in my living room and covering it with colored bulbs and twinkling lights.

Two years ago I convinced myself that a second-hand plastic tree was eco-friendly. And it is… but it’s not me-friendly.

Last year I bought a live tree to plant in the woods once the holidays were over. After I wrote the check for nearly $200 I was informed the tree wouldn’t survive long in my downtown apartment, and I would have to slowly acclimate it to the indoor temperature before bringing it in the house. I’d have to do the same in reverse two weeks later.

I learned a lot that year.

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