Of Course there is a story that belongs to this sweet little, lit Christmas tree.
My husband and I decided not to have children. This was not a decision we made lightly. We really thought about it.
Our decision was the single biggest contribution that we felt that we could make towards the preservation of the earth and the protection of the environment at large.
So, while others choose to drive huge fuel guzzling SUVs, like Hummers, and leave every light in every room of their house illuminated... even though they're only able to be in one room at a time, we think about the impact of our actions and make decisions accordingly.
Please don't mistake my words as self-righteous judgement casting. These are simply behavioral decisions that we made because it felt right to us. Our vehicle is the little Smart car, parked neatly in a parking space with loads of room to spare. It's a diesel and gets 60 mpg (US mpg) . It generally cost us $18 (Canadian dollars) to fill the tank and that let's us travel 300 miles on a single tank.
For comparison, the Hummer is parked outside the lines of a parking space and is taking up the entire spot. I don't want to even guess how much it costs to fill up the tank of that monster.
Our other "rides" are fold-up pedal bikes and believe it or not, we can get a matching pair of these in the rear storage compartment of our Smart car.
One day, while we were out running errands in the middle of July, we stopped at a yard-sale. Among other things that the people hosting the yard-sale had for sale was Christmas decorations.
Knowing that their sale was "off season" for the decorations they had on offer, this little tree was priced at $5.
It's ceramic and is done in the style of Blue Mountain Pottery. This is a famous Ontario company that started in 1947 and sadly went out of business in 2004.
Inside the tree is a single bulb. When it's turned on, it makes all the little lights on the tree glow.
The first year that my husband and I were married, we went to a Christmas tree farm, selected our own tree, cut it down and took it back to our home to decorate. We had to buy a tree stand and decorations, so the tree wasn't packed with ornaments because we were just starting out and didn't have a huge budget to splurge with.
Once we had the tree decorated, we stood there looking at it and then we turned to each other and said "Now What?".
Two weeks later, we packed the decorations and stand away and the whole tree was discarded. The wood in it wasn't even burnt because we didn't have a wood-stove or fireplace at that time.
It seemed like such a waste of resources and energy. We never purchased a real tree again and it made even less sense once we made our final decision not to have children.
18 months ago, we "right sized" our living accommodations and purchased a tiny 850 square foot home.
This is the first year that our little 1970's pottery inspired tree will be displayed in the middle of our dining table. It takes this honourable place in our home because it's the only space we really have that displays it nicely.
I need to thank @cynetyc for inspiring me to unpack it, dust it off and share it all with you as my entry in his "fabulous Christmas tree contest".
If you haven't seen his blog post about it, you can view it here:
https://steemit.com/fabulouschristmastree/@cynetyc/fabulous-christmas-tree-contest-announcement#@cynetyc/re-rebeccaryan-re-cynetyc-fabulous-christmas-tree-contest-announcement-20161217t154331101z
This is the last day to participate in his contest. I do hope you will participate and show him some love by taking a picture of your own decorated trees.
I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey.
~Rebecca Ryan