Joy of Christmas

Posts Tagged ‘Christmas Trees’

The largest helicopter in the United States will soon deliver the world’s biggest Christmas tree to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California.

The bright red and white Columbia Chinook has a rotor span covering nearly 5,000 square feet and is capable of lifting 26,000-pound loads. The giant tree, 125-feet tall, is a Douglas Fir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

The tree lift will take place on Friday, November 2. Because of its size, the tree is being delivered by truck in two sections and is wrapped to prevent damage during transportation. The airlift is necessary to actually bring the tree into the park, as it is being placed at the main entrance Dolphin Fountain area.

Once the tree is ready for flight, the helicopter crew will carry the sections over rides and buildings that will be closed during this operation. The helicopter crew will place the sections near the tree stand in the center of the park, where a conventional ground crane will reassemble the tree and set it upright.

The tree delivery is in preparation for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom’s “Holiday in the Park” event, the biggest holiday celebration in California, which will officially open to the public after Thanksgiving. The celebration, where many areas of the park have been transformed into grandiose holiday themes, promises festive fun for guests of all ages.

This Christmas tree project is similar to other work routinely performed by this helicopter. The helicopter is owned and operated by Columbia Helicopters of Portland, Oregon, which is active in selectively harvesting timber throughout North America. In the selective harvesting process, only a portion of the timber is removed from a forest, leaving the remaining trees to thrive with the additional resources of water, sunlight and soil nutrients. The remaining timber is also more resistant to fire, disease and insect infestations.

This particular aircraft spent most of the summer under contract to the U.S. Forest Service, helping to fight wildland forest fires across the Western United States. While Columbia Helicopters does have two aircraft assisting with the fires currently burning in Southern California, this aircraft was not available for these recent conflagrations.

Columbia Helicopters has the largest privately held fleet of heavy-lift helicopters in the world, second in size only to military fleets. The company’s aircraft are used for timber harvesting, construction projects, fighting forest fires and petroleum exploration support.

Silverculturist and WWII veteran, John Cooper, had a vision to create an idyllic Christmas tree farm where families from around West Virginia and the Ohio Valley could come each year to find that perfect Christmas tree.

Silverculturist and WWII veteran, John Cooper, had a vision to create an idyllic Christmas tree farm where families from around West Virginia and the Ohio Valley could come each year to find that perfect Christmas tree. His dream started in 1971 when he purchased a scenic lot in Evans, WV. After preparing the land, he planted his first trees in 1973. The rewards of his dream came to fruition in 1981 when the first crop of trees was sold. More than 25 years later, the legacy he created has taken a leap forward with the help of new ownership and the information superhighway.

At the end of WWII, it is possible that John Cooper was the first man to receive communication from Radio Japan that the Order of the Rising Sun unconditionally surrendered to the United States and its Allied forces. The Showa Emperor of Japan had recorded a message in which he personally accepted the Allied surrender terms. John was taking a break in the radio room of the Battleship New Jersey when he heard the signal. He copied the transmission and relayed it to the rest of the fleet. After the war, John Cooper had the privilege to meet General of the Army Douglas MacCarther, at Supreme Allied headquarters in Tokyo next to the emperor’s palace.

Today, John Cooper is considered by the United States Department of Agriculture as one of West Virginia’s finest Silverculturists. John was the President of the West Virginia Christmas Tree Association and a representative to the National Christmas Tree Association. He was invited to the White House during the Jimmy Carter administration to present a Christmas tree to the First Lady on his state’s behalf.

Well past the typical retirement age, John’s passion for his farm did not dim, but his physical ability to work the trees diminished. Therefore, in early 2006 he began a quest to find the perfect family to take over the business. He refused offers to sell to anyone that might not continue his dream. By the end of the year he met Washington, DC entrepreneurs, Luke & Jenna Wilbur. He had found the ideal fit. The energetic couple owned, FreshChristmasTree.com, a successful online company that offers customers from around the country the ability to receive a fresh cut Christmas tree straight to their doorstep. While farm formally changed hands in June 2007, John Cooper has stayed on as a consultant, passing along his expertise on crops and land management. The Wilbur’s have expanded Santa’s Forest by combining their successful mail order business with a traditional cut-your-own tree farm.

Christmas trees from local retailers are cut as early as October, while Christmas trees available through www.FreshChristmasTree.com arrive just days being cut, guaranteeing they will remain healthy well past December 25th. A wide variety of trees are available including: Scotch Pine, Balsam Fir, Canaan Valley Fir, Colorado Spruce, Fraser Fir, and White Pine. Wreaths and Garland are also available.

John Cooper’s dream of families gathering around a tree from Santa’s Forest lives on through the Wilbur’s and www.FreshChristmasTree.com. The Wilbur’s are very proud to carry on his legacy by providing a quality product to families near and far.

Santa’s Forest is a USDA registered farm and a member of the National Christmas Tree Association. We follow sustainable growing guidelines that protect our environment.

As Karen Burns, a volunteer at the Christian Associates of Table Rock Lake Thrift Store, made her way from tree to tree she has decorated from solely donated items, she pauses, and describes what the Christmas tree project means to her.

“It is a full circle, but more like a heart,” she said as she drew a heart shape in the air with her finger. “There are the people giving and there are the people receiving.”

She then added to complete the shape, “there are Christian Associates.”

As a retired florist Burns has found a way to do more than donate her time, but her talents as well, to the thrift store.

Last week, Burns began decorating old, donated Christmas trees with items, she along with other volunteers have found while digging through boxes of donated items. What she creates each time is a themed tree.

“Trees are such a part of the holiday. I think it brings brightness to the home during the winter gloomies,” Burns said.

The decorations that once brought happiness and joy to others, can now bring happiness and joy once again.

“On the side of donating, they don’t have the need, but it brightens somebody else’s Christmas,” she said, reaching to a handmade decoration and recalled hearing the story of a man who brought them in after his wife died.

For those who won’t be able to get their hands on one of Burns’ personally decorated trees, she hopes everyone who comes in to the thrift shop, leaves with a little inspiration.

“It is our gift to everybody in the holiday season,” Burns said. “It is all part of the big picture.”

She said she hopes to encourage people “to think beyond the box.”

Burns said people don’t need to spend a fortune, or anything really at all, to have a merry Christmas tree.

Trees Burns has already created include a bear tree, a snowman tree, a woodlands tree, a Victorian tree, a St. Nicholas tree, a framed card tree and a northwood Americana tree.

“Everything has been donated,” she said. “Some will be for sale and some for bid. Once they are purchased and out the door, I’ll be working on some more.”

Thrift store manager Char Elliott said she, as well as all the staff, are very appreciative of the joy the trees have already brought.

“It has got everybody in the mood,” Elliott said. “We are lucky to have Karen.”

For that matter, Elliott said she is really appreciative of her entire team of volunteers.

“We are a family,” she said.

To carve a green niche in the waning market for real Christmas trees, some Michigan growers are raising evergreens in buried pots.

Compared to field-dug evergreens, the trees grown with this technique are lighter weight and can be kept indoors longer before being planted outdoors, according to research at Michigan State University.

Denise and Thomas Newcombe of Brandon Township, near Oxford, are planning to get two of the trees in December to decorate and place on tabletops. After the holidays, they’ll plant the trees in their yard.

“It’s our pleasure to watch all these trees grow,” says Denise Newcombe. “It just gives us something more to take back than just cutting down a tree and then giving it to the garbage man.”

They purchase the Christmas trees, grown with a system called pot-in-pot, from the Candy Cane Christmas Tree Farm, which adjoins their property.

According to the Michigan Christmas Tree Association, several Michigan growers are raising pot-in-pot trees, but Candy Cane owners Frank and Cathy Genovese are the first in the state to sell them on a large scale, with about 1,500 ready this year.

The pot-grown trees retain all their roots, so they have “a better ability to adapt to harsh conditions when you put them back” outdoors, says Pascal Nzokou, an assistant forestry professor who studies Christmas trees at MSU.

The Genoveses sell the pot-grown trees for $39.99 (2-3 feet) and $129.99 (5-6 feet).

That is about a third more than a cut tree but a third less than a nursery tree of the same size that is field grown, dug and then has burlap wrapped around the root ball, says Cathy Genovese.

The field-dug tree’s root ball can weigh 200 pounds or more, while the 5- to 6-foot pot-grown trees, in a light, soilless mix, weighs 60 pounds, she says.

Michigan’s 400 to 600 Christmas tree growers, like their peers around the country, have long battled the perception by some that cut trees are bad. For that and other reasons, many consumers have switched to artificial trees.

Growers counter that they plant more trees than they harvest, that real trees can be recycled into usable mulch and that artificial trees are usually imported and made from petroleum-based products.

“There’s nothing environmentally wrong with cutting a Christmas tree because it’s a renewable resource. But some people aren’t comfortable with it,” says Genovese.

Nzokou said pot-grown trees can be kept indoors longer than balled-and-burlapped trees without suffering damage because their root systems remain intact. Field-grown plants lose roots when they are dug so are more prone to transplant shock.

Pot-in-pot trees may be kept after the holidays in an unheated garage as long as they are exposed to sunlight and watered, according to Genovese.

Mike Garfield, executive director of the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, said the pot-in-pot trees could cut down on waste that communities have to deal with after the holiday, and also provide niche farming opportunities. “It’s probably a promising approach and one that could be good for the environment.”

Denise Newcombe says her family plans to dig holes for their trees this fall, then plant them outside in January.

For the 10th time in 41 years, the White House Christmas tree will hail from North Carolina.

This year Ashe County growers Joe and Linda Freeman will have the honor of presenting First Lady Laura Bush with a Fraser fir from their farm the week after Thanksgiving, according to the N.C. Christmas Tree Association. The Freemans garnered the honor by winning the Grand Champion title at the National Christmas Tree contest held in Portland Oregon in 2006. To be eligible, Joe Freeman first won the N.C. Christmas Tree Association state contest.

Joe Freeman currently grows Fraser fir Christmas Trees at Mistletoe Meadows, his 130-acre farm in Laurel Springs. He has about 100,000 trees planted.

White House staffers hand-pick the tree they want, and it will be cut in late November and transported to Washington D.C. White house staffers will decorate the tree.

Here’s a list of previous growers who’ve landed a Christmas tree in the White House:

1971 Kermit Johnson Avery County

1973 Homer & Bruner Sides Alleghany County

1982 Hal & Sarah Johnson Ashe County

1984 Hal & Sarah Johnson Ashe County

1990 R. Bruce & Michael Lacey Avery County

1993 Wayne Ayers Mitchell County

1995 Ron Hudler & Danny Dollar Ashe County

1997 Sanford Fishel Ashe County

2005 Earl, Betsy, & Buddy Deal Alleghany County

2007 Joe Freeman Ashe County

A SHORTAGE of foreign Christmas trees will mean bad news for shoppers in Worcestershire, but could spell good news for local farmers.

Fewer trees being inported from Denmark this year, means prices in Britain are expected to soar.

The shortage of Nordmann Fir trees, the most popular because they do not shed their needles, is due to farmers in Denmark no-longer receiving EU subsidies.

With no subsidies, the farmers cannot afford to grow the trees, and have ploughed up their fields.

Nick Beard, farm manager of Leigh Sinton Christmas Trees, in Lower Interfield, near Malvern, said his prices would be increasing.

“Everyone assumes you can always go and buy a tree at Christmas, but this year people will get a shock because there will not be enough and the prices will be higher,” he said. “Unless Denmark gets planting quickly this problem is going to continue.”

Only 300,000 of the trees will be imported into Britain in December, compared with the usual 1.2 million.

Mr Beard said the shortage was not just due to the retraction of subsidies from Danish farmers.

“Five years ago in Denmark they had a huge glut of growers, then over the years prices dropped because there were too many growers,” Mr Beard said. “Because prices were low they stopped planting.

“The third factor is the price of land in Denmark has gone up to the equivalent of £13,000 an acre, in the UK the cost is around £4,000. It is very expensive to farm over there.”

Mr Beard predicts growers across Britain will be clambering to plant Nordmann Fir saplings in the spring.

But because the trees take six to seven years to grow to full height it will not be a quick fix.

“I think the next five to six years are going to be really strong for the tree industry until the market gets flooded again, Mr Beard said. “We are going to be planting a lot of the trees, if you do not do it you maybe left stranded.”

John Harper, of Top Barn Christmas Trees, in Holt Heath, Worcester, said: “It should not affect us at all because most of the trees we sell are our own. However, for the few we buy in I am already being quoted a large increase in price. They will be about £5 more than last year, an increase the buyer will have to bear.”

A ruling by the European Union could make the price of a top variety of Christmas tree decidedly unfestive.

Imports of the popular Nordmann Fir, which is grown in Denmark, are to fall after the European Union scrapped subsidies, putting many growers of the tree out of business and leading to a shortage.

That’s putting up prices and forcing retailers to fall back on the unpopular Norway spruce variety – which has been known to drop its needles so fast it is often bald by Boxing Day.

Last year 1.2 million Nordmann firs were imported to Britain – but this year just 300,000 of the trees will be sent over.

About 8.5 million trees are sold every Christmas and half of those are Nordmann firs.

British forestries grow Nordmann Firs but not enough to feed the demand.

The British Christmas Tree Growers Association is now advising its members to increase their prices by up to 20 per cent.

And the extra cost is set to be passed on to customers at garden centres and markets this Christmas.

Roger Hay, secretary of the British Christmas Tree Growers Association, said: “About 15 per cent of all trees sold in Britain come from Denmark. This year that figure will be down to just two per cent.

“Previously, Denmark supplied 12 million trees a year to European countries but this year that number will drop by four million. The number supplied to the UK will be about 300,000.

“It is all down to a change in the Common Agricultural Policy which stopped the Danish government subsidising the Danish growers.

“As a result Danish farmers haven’t been able to afford to grow them and have ploughed up their land.

“Denmark grows the Nordmann Fir which is the most popular tree in the UK. These trees tend not to drop their needles and they have softer needles.

“About 8.5 million Christmas trees are sold in the UK every year and about four million are Nordmann Firs.

“We have got plenty of trees in this country but what we don’t have are plenty of Nordmann Firs.

“Some people are going to have difficulty getting hold of them this year and as a result the price will go up.”

Richard Deffee, a forester at the Cranborne Estate in Dorset, said he has been besieged by panic-buying dealers already.

He said: “Over the last month we have had businesses calling up wanting a couple of thousand Christmas trees they would usually get from Denmark.

“They are phoning as many forestries as they can to get hold of them.

“The association is recommending to us that we put our prices up by 20 per cent.

“Our wholesale price is normally £15 for a 6ft tree and retail price is £30.”

The Cranborne Estate sells about 4,500 trees a year. About half of them are Nordmann Firs and the others are the traditional Norway Spruce and Blue Spruce species.

Mr Deffee said 2,700 are already earmarked for six local garden centres at wholesale price while 1,800 will be sold direct to customers on a first come first serve basis.

He said: “Normally we are stocked up until Christmas Eve but we expect to sell out sooner this Christmas.

“I expect customers who can’t get hold of them at their usual place will turn up here.”

Despite the shortage, British growers say they will be in for a bumper few years for sales.

They have already begun growing hundreds of thousands of extra Nordmann Firs which will be ready for digging out of the ground next year.

Mr Hay said: “We have always been at the mercy of Denmark and have struggled to compete against the imported trees that were cheaper.

“We can grow Nordmann Firs here very well. We have got large areas of them that have been planted in the last few years.

“It is too soon for them this year but we will certainly have more of them next year.”

The association is advising customers to go to growers within the next couple of weeks, reserve a tree and collect it after the first week in December.

Mr Hay said: “Don’t buy a tree too early because you will find by the middle of the festive season it will start to look a bit weary.”

When in 2005 black Christmas trees and upside-down Christmas trees became a big hit I was envious of those who could buy one. Living in a small town I have the choice between a natural, chopped Christmas tree and an artifical tree. Neither category holds much choice: it is either take or leave.

True, there are large chains that also sell artifical Christmas trees via the web but they have two drawbacks. One, quality is often questionable. Something you can see for yourself in store (“this thing looks plastic”) but will only experience firsthand once your web order is delivered and you’re stuck with it. Second, these chains ship only from and to the USA.

Then the other day I was contacted by Santa’s Quarters, a site specialised in artificial Christmas trees and home and commercial indoor and outdoor Christmas decoration. They’ve been around for 30 years and ship anywhere as long as it is on this planet.

My interest naturally went out to their selection of artificial Christmas trees. The section is divided into 9 categories: Ultra Realistic Artificial Christmas Trees, Traditional Artificial Christmas Trees, Flocked Artificial Christmas Trees, Frosted Christmas Trees, Colored Artificial Christmas Trees, Upside Down Christmas Trees, Giant Artificial Christmas Trees (especially suited for commercial application), Alpine Trees and Artificial Potted Trees and Topiaries.

Each category holds several trees and each tree comes in several sizes. Sizes can begin as low as 3 feet while other trees start at 10 feet. It all depends.

Browsing the catalog is easy with small images, about 150 pixels, showing you the trees. When you click on an item you go to the detail page which features a larger image of the tree, giving you a really good idea of the overall look. What I like a lot is that most trees have at least one additional photo; a large close-up one. It’s that kind of “up close” experience I’m looking for to really “inspect” my new tree.

Most trees come with lights installed. Kind of smart, I think.

Browsing the artificial trees section it is obvious that Santa’s Quarters is a specialised shop. They know their niche, they know what works, they know their materials and products. For example, from their flocked trees collection, take a look at the North Pole fir. This is really, really well done. By the way, they say that if you like the tree with a little bit less snow, to go for a frosted tree instead.

And yes, Santa’s Quarters also has my coveted black Christmas tree and upside down Christmas tree. Now I only have to figure out which one it will be this year…

The above is a sponsored review. The outcome of the review has no influence on payment.

City Plaza’s Christmas tree will be topless for the next few years.

Heavy winds caused the top tip of the blue Atlas cedar used as the city’s Christmas tree to break just above where the city attached the star, city Urban Forester Denice Britton said Monday.

Britton said the tree is fine and will form a new point. However, it will take a couple of years for that to happen, so the tree will be still be flat next Christmas.

The city will still put a star on the tree next year, but it will not be as high as this past holiday, she said.

The urban forester said she’s heard a number of concerns that someone stole the Christmas star or that city maintenance workers broke the tree, but neither is the case.

The city has only used the tree, planted in the 1950s, as its Christmas tree for the past two years. A redwood at the north side of the plaza had the honor before that, but the city decided to promote the cedar as the Christmas tree during a reconstruction of City Plaza.

Britton believes the original purpose of the people who planted the tree was to have it serve as the city’s Christmas tree.

This year’s Christmas tree may be smaller, but it has a lot more meaning for Bob and Terri Kulhanek.

The miniature pine dressed with garland and colored lights marks the first Christmas for the Kulhaneks and their four children since a fire gutted their Sylvania-Petersburg Rd. home March 18.

Among the decorations are six special ornaments bearing the names of their dogs and cats who died in the fire. Jynx, Kallie, Lovey, Velvet, Scooter and Moe Moe are gone but haven’t been forgotten by the family.

“It’s our memorial to them,” Mrs. Kulhanek said.

She said she had reservations about putting up a tree at all this year, given that the family has been living in a cramped mobile home since the fire. The tight trailer will be their haven until their new home is finished in January.

However, Mrs. Kulhanek said the family couldn’t go against the Christmas tradition of the tree surrounded by presents.

“It’s not the same,” she said, even if the tree is only half the size.

Most Americans celebrate the birth of Jesus today, but Christmas is special for many non-Christians as well. Christmas is a time for family, for giving, for happy children, for sharing a meal – acts and feelings that aren’t exclusive for just Christians. One iconic symbol of the season unites just about everyone, regardless of their beliefs – the Christmas tree.

Look around this time of year, and you’ll see perhaps more kinds of Christmas trees than there are religious beliefs. The traditional fir and pine trees abound, but “trees” are also made of plastic and acrylic, paper and cardboard. They can be as tiny as a thumb or several stories high – and virtually every size in between.

Many people experience several different tree rituals over a lifetime. Every family should, at least once, savor cutting down a live tree on snow-covered ground, bringing the fresh tree home and – if you’re lucky – hearing the pine cones pop and crackle over the next couple of weeks. As we age and lose the desire for the labor required in sawing down a live tree, we turn to the tree lots that crop up at businesses, churches and elsewhere over the season, inspecting each tree to find the one of perfection, one that fits the designated room just right. Later, we settle for an artificial tree that doesn’t leave sap, doesn’t have to be watered, doesn’t trigger allergies.

Christmas tree ornaments become treasures to hold for life, memories of people and years, symbols of different life stages.

Buying – or assembling – a tree, placing it in its stand and adding lights, ornaments, garland and other decorations is, for many families, as much a part of the Christmas tradition as buying and giving presents. And most families share the tradition of finishing the decorating by placing a star or angel at the top.

Christmas trees are ubiquitous in our favorite Christmas movies – how could there be “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “A Christmas Story” without a Christmas tree? Even pitifully undergrown and misshapen trees can still serve the purpose, as Charlie Brown taught us in the first “Peanuts” TV special.

History offers various versions of the beginning of Christmas trees. European pagans commonly worshipped trees. The triangular fir tree may have been used to symbolize the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and by some accounts, Martin Luther decorated a tree with candles.

Most agree that the traditions we follow today have roots in Germany. A German medieval play about Adam and Eve featured a “paradise tree” representing the Garden of Eden, and Germans began placing such trees in their homes on Dec. 24. People hung wafers – symbolizing Christian redemption – and later cookies and candles. Homes also had Christmas pyramids, holding evergreens, Christian figurines and a star. Around the 16th century, the pyramid and paradise tree became one, and by the 18th century, the Christmas tree was an established tradition for German Lutherans.

Britian’s Prince Albert is credited for bringing the tradition to England in the 19th century and adding toys and gifts. Germans also brought the tree tradition to North America as early as the 17th century. By the end of the 19th century, F.W. Woolworth was selling millions of dollars in ornaments each year, and electric lights were available.

Perhaps the tree’s near-universal appeal in Western nations is the fact that as an inanimate object, non-Christians can consider the tree secular, while the Christmas tree tradition is well-steeped in Christianity.

Whatever your family’s traditions are today, they will most likely – at some point – involve the Christmas tree. So enjoy your tree with the knowledge that throughout the nation and beyond, the tree is one element of Christmas that nearly everyone shares.

Merry Christmas.

VANDALS rendered some Larne community Christmas trees potentially lethal last year.

There are now question marks over future festive celebrations, after thieves cut off vital transformers, which left some trees ‘live’ and at full mains voltage. In addition, around 2,100 bulbs were taken out and smashed.

The threat to life and the costs incurred have prompted Larne Borough Council to ask community groups to ‘reconsider their desire to hold a Christmas celebration’.

Larne Borough Council’s development committee was appraised of the festive horror stories in a report which revealed that voltage-reducing transformers – worth up to £70 each – were cut from three trees, leaving the wires ‘live’ and at full mains voltage.

In one case the electricity supply came from a private house rather than an NIE supply box. “The act of removing the transformer could have blown the circuits in this house”, the report stated.

One community group had specifically requested that an NIE supply be erected for Christmas 2006 celebrations, “as they were no longer prepared to run the cables from a private house, as the home insurance policy did not cover the house if the window was left open to accommodate the Christmas lights”.

The council arranged for the installation of an electricity supply box, at a cost of £500. “However,” the report revealed, “Vandalism to this particular tree was so bad and so persistent that the community group called Larne Borough Council to have the tree removed before Christmas.”

Councillors heard that the cost to ratepayers of the 18 community Christmas trees, including man hours, maintenance and replacement bulbs, was in the region of £9,170.

They were also informed that the trend for community groups to hold individual switching-on ceremonies impacted on the council budget. “This is considerable, not only in terms of supplying trees and ensuring that electrical work is carried out correctly, but in maintaining these trees during a six-week period over Christmas and New Year”, the report revealed.

The council has written to community groups, asking each to “give serious thought to Christmas 2007 celebrations and to action that you may be able to take at a community level to help prevent vandalism”.

It was recommended that community groups should be more proactive in managing Christmas trees and that trees should be surrounded with “large metal fences similar to that surrounding the one in Broadway”.

Concerns over potential traffic backups is stalling an attempt to construct a new Christmas Tree Shop and Bed, Bath & Beyond on Durgin Lane.

The Technical Advisory Committee on Tuesday tabled the project to build the two businesses and a third as-of-yet unnamed retail store at the site of the existing Home Depot. The home improvement store is building a new facility at the old Portsmouth Circle Business Center.

Deputy Police Chief Len DiSesa said he worried about the additional traffic the project would generate, especially the volume visiting the Christmas Tree Shop. DiSesa said the stores could cause vehicle backups through the intersection of Durgin Lane, Woodbury Avenue and the access road to BJ’s Wholesale Club.

“This is going to be a mess of an intersection and the potential of it becoming a bottlejam is a major concern for us,” he said.

The committee also wanted to see proposed signs directing traffic to the new plaza.

Dave Palumbo, who lives on nearby Echo Avenue, said he fears travelers going to and from the new plaza will use a cut-through from a nearby auto dealership “Their traffic is going to be horrendous and we’ve got a lot of children on the street,” he said.

The developer’s attorney, Malcolm McNeill, said he believes traffic at the current Home Depot and the new Christmas Tree Shop would essentially be a wash and felt his client should only be concerned about the Bed, Bath & Beyond and the to-be-determined retail tenant.

The developer has suggested adding a center turning lane to Durgin Lane.

The committee seemed pleased with the revised plans overall.

“Outside of traffic, we’re largely there,” said Planning Director David Holden.

The Traffic and Safety Committee will review the project next month.

Brown, forlorn and definitely not merry, old Christmas trees still dot many Pasadena neighborhoods a month later, unsightly reminders of the bygone holiday season.

Carlos Teran noticed them as he walked to work from his home in the 1800 block of Corson Street, lying on curbs and in gutters, and complained to the city.

“There are a lot of them on Corson and on Villa Street,” he said, “and they don’t look good. If they want the city to look good, why not pick up all those trees?”

Teran is upset because he’s been ticketed twice for parking his car on his lawn, a practice city officials called unsightly. Now, he says, the city is creating something unsightly, and Teran wants it to remove the eyesores.

A random survey showed Corson and Villa are not the only streets littered with old Christmas trees. There are quite a few on South Grand Avenue, Palmetto Drive and Arroyo Boulevard, neighborhoods not normally associated with abandoned items.

Arlington Rodgers, a Department of Public Works administrator, said tree pickups are behind schedule, but should be completed by the end of next week.

“Nature, the wind storms after the Rose Parade, disrupted our schedule” by about a week, he said, as city crews scurried to remove downed trees, branches and palm fronds.

The department is trying to schedule the pickups schematically, he said, with a separate truck and crew gathering the trees on the same day as regular trash pickups.

“But there might be some stragglers out there,” Rodgers said.

The city is continuing its efforts even though curbside pickups officially ended Jan. 12. Rodgers said anyone who thinks they were overlooked may call public works at (626) 744-4087.

As for Teran, he said a city crew showed up Wednesday and removed trees from his curb and that of a neighbor, though others still await removal.

It’s almost February. I know this not only because of the cold weather, the muddy boot prints on my kitchen floor, and my list of already broken resolutions, but because I’m the only person on my block left with a Christmas tree. Still decorated.

Sure, we all know that January first is the Official Tree Undecorating Day, which really is the deadline that separates the Super-On-Top-of-It sort of people from the Major Slackers.

And, yes, like most people who never return library books on time and pack up the summer pool toys in November, I belong in the latter category. Now, some of you might consider this “procrastination.” Others might think of it as being “organizationally challenged.” Me? I prefer to think of it more as “extending the holiday season.”

It may sound like it, but I’m not jealous of the people who are in the first category. I mean you have to respect a person who has their ornaments sorted by color, 50 feet of icicle lights wound up, and their tree on the front lawn ready for pick up by 12:01am New Years Day. No, I’m just jealous, just a little bitter and wishing they wouldn’t throw their post-Christmas season success in my face. You have to admit, that they make the rest of us (and by “us” I mean “me”) look really, really bad.

Oh sure, I’ve learned to fool people for a while. The problem is that my tree, a once living, breathing entity, has to come out of the house eventually and head to the curb and then, boom-ba, the entire neighborhood will know that not only have I missed the Official Tree Undecorating deadline, I’ve missed it by weeks.

So I’m trying to think of some way to get rid of the tree incognito. I could be like my friend Patty, who each February tries to outwit her neighbors by chopping her tree into little pieces and taking it out at night in multiple garbage bags. But I don’t need to tell you that this conjures up even more – ahem – unflattering images. (And I don’t mean this as a criticism of my friend; it’s merely an observation).

Like most organizationally challenged people, each year I try to change my ways. And in the first week of January I turn to my family and say, “Will someone help me take down the tree?” to which they reply by immediately jumping up, putting on their coats, and running outside.

So then I move on to the top three techniques of parental coercing: guilt, empty threats and begging. All of which, to the surprise of no one, don’t work either.

But if there’s one thing I learned all these years being a parent, it’s that sometimes it’s best to save up your energy and choose your battles. So this year I plan to buy an artificial tree with ornaments and lights already on it. All I will have to do is to fold the branches, slide it back into the box, and voila!

And if that doesn’t work, at least the house won’t look any worse by my leaving it up. In fact, I may just extend the holiday season by keeping it up next year, all year round. Hmmm. Maybe that’s how the Christmas in July sales started.

Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announces the remainder of trees from the Christmas tree recycling program is available at several boat ramp sites.

This year’s successful Christmas tree recycling program was due to the partnership efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Thurmond Lake, Riverside Middle School in Evans, Ga., Pollard Lumber Co., Davis Hauling Co., and the U.S. Forest Service’s Long Cane Ranger District.

Trees can be picked up at the following ramps: Amity, Big Hart, Gill Point, Fishing Creek/Hwy. 79, Cooter Creek, Long Cane/Hwy. 28, and Little River SC/Hwy. 81. Trees will remain at the boat ramps until they are gone, or until April 15. The trees, used as fish attractors, should be placed at an appropriate depth so they do not create a navigation hazard.

Corps fisheries biologists submerged some of the recycled Christmas trees at 12 attractor sites. For information on the sites, go to the website at www.sas.usace.army.mil/ lakes/thurmond/fishing.htm.

Small trees and brush provide cover for fish and are particularly valuable as nursery habitat for juvenile fish. In addition, they provide habitat for aquatic insects – essential food during the early states of life for most fish species. The constructed brush pile also makes an excellent location to fish.

The dirty Thanksgiving dishes were still sitting in the kitchen sink when Tim Leeming decided to hang up his Christmas lights, but partway through, a sudden wave of disgust swept over him.

“I was ashamed of myself. I said, ‘I’m taking these things down. Christmas and Thanksgiving are not the same holiday. We are not going to blend them together. We are going to have a Christmas season.’”

Leeming says he feels a not-so-subtle pressure from society to speed things up.

“Our whole culture is, ‘What’s next? What’s for sale? What can I buy? Throw out what I have. Let’s buy some new stuff.’ You feel that pressure to get things done, and we said, ‘No, we’re not doing it.’”

Leeming, 45, is a Cook County attorney and has lived in Oak Park with his wife, Pamela, and four children for 12 years. He takes a certain pride in being “countercultural.”

For example, when one of his close friends died last spring, Leeming didn’t want to take his three younger children to the gravesite after the funeral and subject them to the mourning experience. Instead, he chose to take them home to build a giant snowman in her honor with big deer antlers on its head as a way to work off some stress and do something positive in the face of grief.

Another way he bucks societal norms is throwing a winter solstice party every January.

The tradition started about 10 years ago as a way to celebrate the shortest day of the year. A few friends would come over to the Leeming home to play pick-up sticks, read poems and listen to music. Although the winter solstice falls in December, the Leemings usually hold their parties in January.

In 2007, the party blossomed into much more. Around 55 people attended the gathering. The Leemings printed elaborate invitations for guests. They play games, read poems, tell jokes.

Leeming sees the gathering as a chance to escape from the hectic pace of everyday life.

“Our solstice party is kind of like our idealized version of civilization: people gathered quietly, sharing talents, sharing time in a peaceful, attentive way, and if we could live in a perfect world like that, we’d be happy-if we could just do stuff we value: art, music, poetry, dance, stories, laughter, that kind of stuff. And we set aside one day a year to do that.

“It’s an effort to control and create our own reality, just for a short time, and to promote values that we don’t think are promoted in our normal American culture, like turning off the TV and just visiting.”

Leeming said some people at the parties don’t understand what he’s trying to accomplish.

“Some people think it’s really weird and bizarre,” he said. “The idea of people standing up and reciting poetry, they’ll never do it, they’ve never seen it done.”

One tradition at the party is to have a different person read a Robert Frost poem titled, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” each year. The first line of the poem asks, “Whose woods are these?” And in reference to the poem, the Leemings decided to create their own woods right outside their home.

Spontaneously, the Leemings spotted a couple of sad, lonely looking former Christmas trees discarded in the alley and the children started dragging the trees back to the house and leaning them up against the fence.

They started building momentum and getting into the idea, and the family dragged more trees back to prop against the fence. When they couldn’t find any in walking distance, they decided to hop in the car and hunt more down.

“Some people were looking at us very funny, like we were committing a crime,” Leeming said. “They were very suspiciously following us in cars, giving us looks like ‘What are those people doing?’”

Some of the trees still had price tags on them: $80, $90 $100. Others still had tinsel. Altogether the Leemings propped 13 trees against their fence. They call it their “pine forest.”

The family isn’t sure how long they want to keep the baker’s dozen up, but Leeming thinks he’d like to keep them through March to the end of winter.

“We’re going to drag them back to the houses we got them from and say we just borrowed them for a couple months,” Leeming joked. “I want to see what they look like in the snow, and the birds like them too.”

He thinks his miniature forest subtly says something.

“At its basic level, it’s a statement: let’s be creative, let’s be careful, let’s be thoughtful.”

Pamela Leeming says, “We hold our solstice party just to be more aware of nature and living things. This year, I think when he brought the trees in with the kids, we sat down and discussed what a short life [the trees] had and what a wonderful life they would’ve had if they stayed in the pine forest.”

Mr. Leeming wrote a poem about the experience based on the discussion. He titled it, “On a Dying Pine Tree, In the Oak Village.” The poem summarizes his feeling that killing a tree is a bad way to start Christmas.

“Our family has always had an artificial tree,” Leeming said. “We just thought it was a bad idea to kill something for Christmas. After the holiday, when you see all these dead trees lying around, you start thinking about it.”

Poetry isn’t the limit of this attorney’s talents. Leeming also paints, carves and made some of the stained glass windows in the family’s Euclid Avenue home. He studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana after he finished law school.

“I do everything to stay busy,” Leeming said. “The artwork is a good balance to the legal work, which is very right-brained, sitting at a desk and working at a computer. If I won the lotto, this is what I’d be doing for a living.”

A judge from the Ontario Court of Justice on Jarvis Street has ordered a Christmas tree out of the courthouse lobby creating some politically-correct controversy this holiday season.

Walk around downtown Toronto and you’ll see several Christmas trees serving as a reminder that the holiday season is here. But while trees like the huge one at Nathan Phillips Square are generally viewed as a common symbol this time of year, many view it as offensive and potentially alienating.

It’s a level of politically-correctness that borders on ridiculous according to one resident. [Persecution: How Liberals are Waging War Against Christians]

“I think everyone should just get over it and we should love each other. I mean Christmas tree or not, what’s the difference? Can’t we just be nice to each other and just tolerate each other a little better?”

According to reports, the order to remove the Christmas tree has angered a lot of the staff at the court house who say that the tree has been placed in the lobby at Christmas for many years.

The judge however, has claimed that it’s a Christian symbol that sends a message to people with different beliefs that they are not part of the institution.

Researchers say those who suffer spring and summer allergies may get a midwinter flare-up from Christmas trees.

“We found there was pollen and moulds on the tree. Some of it was actively growing, some of it was stuck on there,” Jim Anderson of the London Health Sciences Centre told CTV News on Tuesday.

The trees collect ragweed pollen, moulds and fungal spores from the farms on which they are grown.

When the trees get moved or dry out, the spores and mould fly into the air.

As a result, the researchers found up to 200 times the level of such material in the air compared to a home with no Christmas tree.

Those who think an artificial tree solves the problem should think again.

Tests found small amounts of fungus on those two because they collected dust and mould when they are stored.

“I was kind of surprised,” Anderson said.

As a result, those who suffer from spring and summer allergies may suffer yet again.

Dr. Michael Alexander, an allergy specialist, had this advice: “I think for people who are susceptible, they should wear long-sleeved shirts with globes and maybe have a fan in the room to disperse the pollen.”

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America has the following suggestions:

• When brining a Christmas tree home, tie it to a roof rack, if possible, so the airflow can remove some of the dust and mould.
• Bounce the tree’s trunk on the driveway or some other firm surface outside.
• Wipe down the trunk with a rag using a mild bleach solution (one part bleach to 20 parts lukewarm water).
• Submerge the trunk in a bucket of fresh water while letting the tree’s branches dry out a bit more.
• Use a leaf-blower on the tree. Perform this operation outside while wearing a dust mask.

“Or the best option is to get somebody else to decorate it for you, and you just enjoy the Christmas tree!” Alexander laughed.

The good news is that once the tree is gone, the allergens disappear too.

Recently, I was talking to some kids at school about our upcoming Christmas break. One of the boys said that he prefers to call it winter break because some people don’t celebrate Christmas. To me, those are fighting words. Or, at the very least, arguing words.

I told the young man that just because one chooses to not celebrate the holiday does not negate its existence. I then went on to talk about decorations in the stores. I asked him if they are called Christmas decorations or winter decorations. Of course, he answered, they are called Christmas decorations. I then asked, what are the trees called that we put in our homes and decorate? Are they Christmas trees or winter trees? Again, he stated they are Christmas trees.

Then I asked him about Thanksgiving, Easter, Independence Day…you get the picture. Are they holidays, I asked? Of course, he replied. Christmas is, too, I said. It is historical and there is a reason why it is celebrated, although different people celebrate it for different reasons.

I went on to explain that I do not celebrate Halloween, but I do acknowledge its very real existence. Just because I choose to not partake in the festivities surrounding the holiday does not make it any less real. It is very real indeed and I have to patiently listen while hundreds of kids at school talk about trick-or-treating and costumes. Halloween is a reality to many, but I choose to ignore it. I don’t go around protesting it or telling others to not celebrate it. I simply choose to make my own decisions and let others make theirs.

Today, there was a story in the news about a Rabbi who was offended because an airport in Seattle had 14 plastic holiday trees, but no menorah. He complained about the trees, they were removed, and he was surprised. He should have known in our politically-correct society that something would be done about it. Why was he surprised?

Now the trees have now been restored to their original position. Apparently Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky wanted an 8-foot-tall menorah added to the display, but airport managers believed they would then have to display symbols of other religions and cultures, which was not something airport workers had time for during the busiest travel season of the year.

I have no problem with a menorah being added to the display as I love and respect Jewish people very much. I respect their holiday as well and their right to worship freely. I have more of an issue with airport officials who chose to get rid of the trees. It is Christmas. What is next? Will we have the politcally-correct police combing through malls, looking for any signs that say “Christmas” and replacing them with “Merry Winter” or some other crazy thing?

Like it or not, it is Christmastime. Millions of people around the world celebrate it. And it will continue to be celebrated. No one is forcing anyone to acknowledge it, just as no one will take away my right to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays.

Christmas trees are going back up at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Pat Davis, president of the Port of Seattle commission, which directs airport operations, said late Monday that maintenance staff would restore the 14 plastic holiday trees, festooned with red ribbons and bows, that were removed over the weekend because of a rabbi’s complaint that holiday decor did not include a menorah.

Airport managers believed that if they allowed the addition of an 8-foot-tall menorah to the display, as Seattle Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky had requested, they would also have to display symbols of other religions and cultures, which was not something airport workers had time for during the busiest travel season of the year, Airport Director Mark Reis said earlier Monday.

Port officials received word Monday afternoon that Bogomilsky’s organization would not file a lawsuit at this time over the placement of a menorah, Davis said in a statement.

“Given that, the holiday trees will be replaced as quickly as possible,” he said.

Davis added that the rabbi “never asked us to remove the trees; it was the port’s decision based on what we knew at the time.”

There were no immediate plans to display a menorah, airport spokesman Bob Parker said, saying restoration of the trees was expected to take place overnight Monday.

“A key element in moving forward will be to work with the rabbi and other members of the community to develop a plan for next year’s holiday decorations at the airport,” the port statement said.

The rabbi has also offered to give the port an electric menorah to display, said his lawyer, Harvey Grad.

“We are not going to be the instrument by which the port holds Christmas hostage,” Grad said, emphasizing the rabbi never sought removal of the trees, but addition of the menorah.

The rabbi had received “all kinds of calls and emails,” many of them “odious,” Grad said, adding he was “trying to figure out how this is consistent with the spirit of Christmas.”

Thirteen trees had sat above foyers that lead outside to the airport drive. The largest tree, which Reis estimated to be 15 or 20 feet tall, was placed in a large lobby near baggage claim for international arrivals.

After the removal, some airline workers decorated ticketing counters with their own miniature Christmas trees.

Customer service agents with Frontier Airlines pooled their money Monday morning to buy four 1-foot-high Christmas trees, which they placed on the airline’s ticketing counter. Atop a Delta counter, workers put up a tree several feet tall.

The airlines lease space for ticket counters from the airport, and can display trees there if they want, Reis said.

While many Christmas trees sparkle with tinsel and lights during the holiday season, some reek of fox urine or wear a splatter of pink stain.

A surge in Christmas tree poaching has forced growers and property owners to take action. Smelly, discolored trees are less likely to be cut and dragged off by thieves, they say.

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, for example, evergreens are sprayed with a fox urine mixture and tagged with a warning to discourage tree thieves.

“It is a strong odor, and it smells just like what it is,” said Kirby Baird, a landscape manager at the school.

When the tree is out in the cold, the smell isn’t noticeable, Baird said. But once the tree is inside and starts to warm up…

“It’s nasty,” he said.

Live Christmas trees have made a resurgence with consumers in the past three years, said Rick Dungey of the National Christmas Tree Association. While no one tracks the number of thefts, some believe the increased demand has fueled pine pilfering.

Tree poaching once was a problem at Washington State University, which has more than 150 evergreen, spruce and fir trees on campus.

“We did have a lot of trees cut for Christmas trees, either entire small trees or tops of large trees,” said grounds supervisor Kappy Brun.

The poaching all but stopped after groundskeepers began to spray campus trees with the oily, odorous liquid produced by skunks.

While Nebraska and Washington fought tree poachers with odor, Cornell University made their trees less appealing as Christmas decorations.

Workers there painted trees with “ugly mix” _ a solution of hydrated lime and red food coloring developed by one of Cornell’s veteran gardeners. The result: fluorescent pink trees. The mix stays on trees for about a month before fading, and is credited with saving dozens of evergreens over the years.

“Ugly mix” received widespread publicity and eventually was used by New York’s Department of Transportation.

“I have gotten calls from Christmas tree growers and from more homeowners and landscapers, and they want to know what do we do,” said Donna Levy, plant health care coordinator at Cornell Plantation, who said the university isn’t recommending the mix, just sharing its strategy.

Cornell isn’t using the pink goop this year because it sometimes is slow to fade.

“We thought we would go a year and see what happens,” Levy said.

Dave Velozo, who owns a nursery near Harrisburg, Pa., recently lost a rare blue Sierra redwood to a tree poacher.

A jagged three-foot stump is all that remains of a 13-foot tree, which Velozo said he had nurtured for the past 15 years.

“Somebody must have seen it over the years and decided, ‘Hey, this will look good in my trailer,’” he said.

A TOWN in Comet country was at the centre of its very own fairy tale last week.

The 30ft Christmas tree in Hitchin town centre was blown over by strong gales in the early hours of Thursday morning but within 36 hours a replacement tree had been found, secured in place and lit just in time for the weekend’s shoppers.

Hitchin Town Centre manager Keith Hoskins worked with the council and the Christmas lights contractors to hurry things along.

“The CCTV camera panned across at about 4.45am and then again at about 5am and the tree had gone over.

“It’s a tribute to teamwork the speed at which it has been dealt with. The new tree’s slightly taller but not quite as bushy.

“I’ve taken a look at it and it seems pretty secure.

“It was like a Christmas story. It began with a tragedy, along came the heroes to help fix the problem, and we have a fairy tale ending.

Traditions die hard. In some cases, they don’t die at all.

Real Christmas trees – spruces and firs – were for years losing ground to artificial trees – plastic and aluminum. But in the last several years, the trend has reversed.

“People like the smell that goes with a real tree, that pleasant wood odor. It’s something the artificial tree can’t match,” said Thomas G. Cranston of the Cranston Tree Farm in Ashfield, where nearly 30,000 Christmas trees are in various stages of cultivation.

“There is also something to connecting with a product of nature instead of something that came out of a factory,” he said.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the number of real trees sold in the United States grew 40 percent from 2003 to 2005 while sales of artificial trees declined 3 percent. Nevertheless, about twice as many artificial Christmas trees will be on display this season in the United Stated as real ones.

The back-to-nature trend in Christmas trees is apparently an all-the-way-back trend. Crowds are large at “cut your own” farms. However, with the mild, snow-free weather and the declining number of Christmas tree farms in Western Massachusetts there could be a looming shortage of trees for self-harvesting.

“It’s overwhelming not only our farm, but other growers throughout the state,” Cranston said.

Real or fake? Choosing between the two has environmental consequences that aren’t always clear cut, said Peggy MacLeod of the Center for Ecological Technology in Northampton. Yes, real trees are recyclable and renewable, but artificial trees are reusable.

But going to a local Christmas tree farm or nursery and cutting or buying your own “would be absolutely the most environmentally friendly thing to do,” MacLeod said.

If Christmas tree growers are seeing any trends in what people are shopping for in a holiday tree, it may be size.

“What I notice is that people are buying bigger trees,” said David B. Radebaugh of Radebaugh’s Christmas Tree Farms in Belchertown and Wilbraham.

“The new houses they’re building are very big. A lot of them have cathedral ceilings. So I’m seeing demands for trees from 10 all the way up to 20 feet,” he said.

Iowa Christmas tree growers are helping some soldiers have a much greener Christmas.

The pine, spruce and fir trees that were grown in Iowa will be shipped to soldiers stationed in Illinois.

A FedEx truck rolled into the Iowa State Fairgrounds at about 8:30 a.m. They’re going to pay the shipping cost and Iowa growers donated the trees.

Sixteen evergreen growers from across the state donated 60 trees to soldiers.

They said that not only are they helping military personnel, but they are giving them some of the best trees in the country.

“I hope that they are so much appreciated back home. People who grow Christmas trees are thinking of them (and) want them to have the best Christmas they can have,” said Loren Kruse of Kruse Christmas Tree Farm.

Two weeks ago, the National Christmas Tree Growers Association shipped trees to soldiers serving overseas.

They sent them about 800 trees that were grown all over the U.S.