My Naked Christmas Trees

by Maggie Battista on December 7, 2007

in eco-friendly, holiday

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I wanted to show you my naked Christmas trees. They are naked because they are at phase one, solely adorned with environmentally-friendly LED white-colored lights. I struggled with what to do for Christmas trees this year – as I’m trying, truly making lots of effort, to lead a more eco-friendly life. As far as I know, there are really only two three options when it comes to green Christmas trees -

  1. Use an artificial tree that you plan to use until the day you die, and understand that the tree will never breakdown in our landfills but that you’re saving a live tree from death.
  2. Cut down a live tree from an organic Christmas tree farm that uses no pesticides in the growing of their trees and thus you may be cutting down a tree but you’re saving our atmosphere from wicked chemicals.
  3. I just learned a third… but where do you get Josh Lucas’ tree? Not in New England…

Artificial trees have a long, long, long way to go in order to be considered design-friendly, let alone eco-friendly, so that was not an option. I sadly didn’t find an organic tree farm on the north shore of Boston so I decided to cut down on CO2 damage to our atmosphere by buying from a local farm in Topsfield, Massachusetts. (Don’t ask me for a website or address, as they’re so local, they don’t really exist but by word of mouth. I’d have to give you step by step directions for how to get there.)

My beautiful fir trees were picked especially for their “airy” quality. The branches are very far apart and some would say they resemble a fuller, but not quite full Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I guess my husband has been talking about these “airy” trees, so he asked me to post photos. I think he’s just happy that (1) he didn’t have to trek out to this farm to cut/carry the trees himself and (2) they’re super light and very easy to manipulate in the house. (I should add that the woman who sold me the little tree said her husband was going to scold her for selling it because no one should buy a tree that’s so oddly-shaped. I’ve been selling “perfect” Christmas trees for the last several holidays and assured her that I wanted to buy the least perfect tree that she had. I’m so in love with it. So don’t you dare laugh at me.)

So again, these are naked pictures. I will post follow-up photos once they’re completely decorated.

The Big Tree, in my family room, about 7 feet tall

december-4th-bigtree1.jpg

With a slightly different filter on the camera…

december-4th-bigtree3.jpg

The Small Tree, in my new kitchen, about 5 feet tall

december-4th-littletree1.jpg

With lights and a slight blur – sorry!
december-4th-littletree2.jpg

Maggie Battista

Maggie, is the founder of Eat Boutique. She started Eat Boutique as a blog in 2007, and sold out of her first gift box of small batch independent food in 2009. Maggie continues to offer unique and delicious handmade food in monthly tasting subscriptions and seasonal gift boxes for food fans and home cooks. Maggie also hosts Eat Boutique Markets, where she spotlights cookbook authors and food and drink makers. She’s written for Time Out New York, Spencer Magazine, The Hip Paris Blog, and writes a monthly cocktail column for the popular wedding blog, Snippet & Ink. Maggie's also created retail experiences for the largest floral and event design company in New England. She regularly travels far distances to find the next great chef, farmer, food maker or host. You can follow her worldwide – and homemade – gastronomic adventures on Twitter at @mizmaggieb or @eatboutique.

  • http://www.emandlo.com Emma Jane

    I’ve been struggling with the same dilemma myself. Especially because I just HATE fake plastic trees. So thank you for making me feel better for not getting one. We’re off to an organic tree farm this afternoon. It’s funny, I was listening to a radio piece on the Lincoln Center Christmas tree the other day and it made me feel so much better about that tree… I always thought it was so terrible that they chopped down these huge glorious trees just for a month of glory and twinkles, but it turns out that, at that size, the tree is nearing the end of its life anyway and when it’s cut down it will be replaced by a brand new tree…and baby trees are more efficient at the whole oxygen/C02/help the earth cycle. So, you know, if you’re got the room, go supersize!!

  • http://www.emandlo.com Emma Jane

    Also, where did you get your lights from??

  • http://eatboutique.com Maggie

    Home Depot and Loew’s were both sold out of their white LED lights by the time I bought lights. I ended up grabbing large ones and small ones at two separate local hardware stores. But prepare yourself – the light they give off is white, bright white, with a blue-ish tinge. They are less warm and more cool… This is okay for me as (1) it really pops and (2) looks gorgeous from the street. But it is not warm and cozy, more cool and hip. I guess that’s the price to pay for going eco-friendly. They use 90% less electricity, so I gave up the warmth for the $ savings. Enjoy cutting your tree down!

  • http://eatboutique.com Maggie

    Kara found a great link to LED lights at Low Impact Living.

  • http://www.emandlo.com Emma Jane

    Thank you! I’m off to Home Depot this afternoon… we have a cozy wood-burning stove in the same room where the tree will be, so I think we can handle a little cool & hip at the other end…

  • http://www.emandlo.com Emma Jane

    Just posted this on Kara’s blog but thought I’d post the update here… you’re a better woman than I am, Maggie! Rob and I just couldn’t do the blue Christmas look, we’re off to Target tomorrow afternoon to return our LED lights and buy some lights that might not be green but won’t be blue. But we did have fun chopping down our tree at the local farm…

  • http://eatboutique.com Maggie

    I completely understand. I needed a few days to get used to it. And I promise, with white and silver ornaments, it turns very white. But yes, they do have that blue hue. It kinda is what it is and being that my husband now works for an entirely environmentally company, I opted to work through the coolness of it all…

  • http://d3.typepad.com Kara

    Well, we’ll see how we do with the blue light. I want to pick up our tree tomorrow and I still haven’t even done the locally-organically-grown-trees homework yet. As with the host gift thing, I’m probably all talk…

  • http://eatboutique.com Maggie

    FYI: I had some designer friends over last night and they loved the tree and the lights, saying it looked very Scandinavian in design. I will post pics soon. Good luck, Kara!

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