Local Yule Trees

To be honest, I don't know how far the Yule trees traveled that were featured for sale on my local fire department's lot. Maybe they came from North Carolina or quite possibly Maine, but I do know their close proximity to my home allowed me to obtain one without using any fuel this year. Typically, my family and I head out into the country, spending the day and lots of gas to arrive at the perfect place to select and cut down our tree. But when we noticed a tree lot being set up by the fire fighters at our local station, we decided to purchase our tree from them instead. To support their cause and our desire to shop local.

After selecting our tree, Mike and Ryan carried it the few blocks home where it now stands proudly decorated in our living room, ready for the upcoming Yuletide.

As 2011 winds down, I feel a sense of gratitude that this year has brought me the opportunity to finally begin to live my environmental values in a huge way. To have downsized into an appropriately sized home for our family. To live within walking distance of all day to day activities such as the food co-op, library, bank, post office, public transportation etc... To have reduced the use of my car to mostly just going back and forth between church and my son's alternative education center twice a week. To have close walking access to the woods and creeks near my home for my enjoyment as well as my pup's. To have found a sense of community in my neighborhood and borough as well as through my church and son's alternative school, allowing me to begin to put down strong roots and create a sense of place for myself and my family.

So yes, our Yule tree may have come from somewhere else far away. But so did I. I am not local to here either. After a bit, my tree will be chipped up and spread on the gardens and soil of this new place creating new life from itself, just as I myself will bring something new to this place I now call home.