A plastic tree? It’s a natural
As a lifestyle writer, I have to tell Susan Carpenter that her piece on her Christmas tree was superb [“Fresh From the Box,” Dec. 16]. She nailed the topic to the trunk, so to speak -- her words sang and the thoughts flowed.
Like her, I succumbed to the lure of the artificial tree. In our case, it was right after the Northridge earthquake in 1994. Distraught at having to move into an apartment while our home was being repaired, my wife and I bought a rather expensive phony. That was 10 years ago.
I justified having an artificial plant by believing it was only a temporary fix. My wife and I and our tree moved back into our Sherman Oaks home in August 1995.
That Christmas, rather than get sap on my hands, we set the boxed wonder up again. And have done so ever since.
As I write this, our artificial tree looms almost-as-majestically as ever in our living room, surrounded by my toy train layout and festooned with ornaments that once hung on a real pine.
But the days are numbered. They say these things are only supposed to last five to 10 years, and just yesterday, I noticed our artificial tree is starting to shed.
There may still be hope.
Richard Carleton Hacker
Beverly Hills
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I have had a fake tree for about six years now because the kids want it up early (Thanksgiving weekend) and it doesn’t come down until early January. No smell of rotting pine, no endless cleanup of pine needles, no leaving dead tree on curb for pickup, etc.
A few boughs here and there handles the Christmas scent we pine for and soon you’ll be wondering why you didn’t go plastic years ago.
Charles O’Connor
Canyon Country
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My wife and I never imagined in a thousand years I would allow a plastic tree in my living room, but while in Sav-on the other day we spotted an unbelievable deal. A pre-lighted 7-foot tree that was originally $60 on sale for $29.99 with a shopper’s card. As we were paying for the tree-in-a-box, the store manager offered us an additional $10 off (I suppose to just be in the holiday spirit). Having already paid, they gave us a $10 gift certificate instead to use there or at Albertsons.
Well, when we pulled out the card to use later that week, we discovered they had put $20 instead of $10 on the card, so not only did we only pay $9.99 for a fantastic tree with over 600 lights, we got our groceries practically free. I guess we just had to find the perfect fake tree at the right time. Merry Christmas!
Robert Battig
Tujunga
