Holiday Thoughts
Nov. 28th, 2007 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felis_lupusEvery year, it amazes me at how some people will whine and complain about the price of a Christmas tree ($30.00, plus tax. Yes, they have to be taxed. "But it's a Christmas Tree! I shouldn't have to pay sales tax on a Christmas tree!" ...what?), and then turn around and buy a $50 wreath (decorated, with a nice bow) without blinking. guh... Yes, it's because the wreaths have had time and effort put into them, but so have the trees! Just not here. Come on already. It's all balsam. It smells lovely, and won't shed too much all over the carpet if you treat it properly and don't leave it up till Valentine's Day.
Open House at the shop this weekend, though! A fun time, very busy, and this year, our lovely Dissonatas are providing holiday music on Saturday. :) Thank you, everybody!
Possibility of snow tomorrow, maybe mixed with rain etc, but I'd be happy with an inch or so. As for me, I'm going to bake some bread for tonight, then spend the rest of the day doing nothing at all. celebrate my first actual "weekend" off in quite a while...
Taking a page from my brother, here... have some links.
How to have a Green Holiday Season:
Which kind of Christmas tree is better for the environment? (hint: It's not an artificial one...)
LED Christmas Lights A bit more expensive, maybe, but worth it in the long run, especially if you do a circus of outdoor decorating. LEDs rarely burn out, too, so you won't spend hours and hours looking for that one stupid bulb that makes alllllll the others go out. :)
A Green Hannukah, for my Jewish friends.
Open House at the shop this weekend, though! A fun time, very busy, and this year, our lovely Dissonatas are providing holiday music on Saturday. :) Thank you, everybody!
Possibility of snow tomorrow, maybe mixed with rain etc, but I'd be happy with an inch or so. As for me, I'm going to bake some bread for tonight, then spend the rest of the day doing nothing at all. celebrate my first actual "weekend" off in quite a while...
Taking a page from my brother, here... have some links.
How to have a Green Holiday Season:
Which kind of Christmas tree is better for the environment? (hint: It's not an artificial one...)
LED Christmas Lights A bit more expensive, maybe, but worth it in the long run, especially if you do a circus of outdoor decorating. LEDs rarely burn out, too, so you won't spend hours and hours looking for that one stupid bulb that makes alllllll the others go out. :)
A Green Hannukah, for my Jewish friends.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-28 04:19 pm (UTC)I miss REAL trees. Not like I can say much since Mom hasn't had a real tree in the past 4 years or so. Stupid fake one.
I LOVE those LED lights. Have you seen them in person? They look fantastic!
As for people bitching about prices- they'll complain about anything. I hate the public!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-28 04:27 pm (UTC)And people around here just don't realize how much they'd be paying if they were anywhere other than New England, where we can grow them natively, and not have to ship waaay the heck to the other end of the world. You can even buy real cut trees online, starting at the bargain price of $89.95 (at one place...), but you get free shipping!! I can't even imagine how you'd ship something like that... that's one HUGE mailing tube. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-11-28 04:42 pm (UTC)For some stupid reason the bank ORDERED a big tree from somewhere. (I do NOT know why considering all the places they could have gotten one for cheaper and they already didn't give us bonuses that year since they hadn't been making that much profit. Jerks.)
Basically they wrap the heck out of the poor tree with the netting stuff until it's as skinny as possible, then they shove it into a really REALLY long square cardboard box. I think the thing was about two and a half to three feet on each edge and was a good ten or more feet long. The tree was pretty darn big, since it was for the lobby, but the box was excessive. They used little cardboard stopper type things to sort of anchor the tree in place in the box- you know what I mean, the cardboard box in a box with a cut out for the tree top and trunk.
The shipping guy was not pleased when he had to wrangle that thing into the bank. Then the maintainece guy had to unpack and unwrap it so it could go up.
I was quite impressed and amused to watch that particular circus unfold before my very eyes. hehehe It was in one of the biggest boxes I had ever seen.
OH! Random offtopic factoid. The sun sets around 3 now up here, and it rises between 9 and 10 (closer to 10 now). NOW I am weirded out by the whole thing. It's almost 8 AM and PITCH BLACK out. hehehehe