‘On the couch’ with Jasminda

DEAR Jasminda,

Real tree or fake?

Kids are nagging me for a real one, but I have a tree on the mezzanine that I can just drag down and decorate.

Katherine E.

Dear Katherine,

I don’t want to alarm you, but do you realise we are heading towards the pointy end of Christmas?

With just a handful of days to go, I’m not sure if now is the time to be making decisions about what sort of tree you want.

There are extremes on the Christmas preparation spectrum though, so who am I to judge?

I clearly remember having an existential crisis in the Santa queue at the local shopping centre one year, which was the very last year we had Santa photos.

I may have put a Santa hat on our pet goat and taken a quick snap with the kids before the goat head-butted them as a sub par alternative.

I personally get irritated by those who have their tree up and presents wrapped by mid-November.

I know these people exist, because they drop casual, ‘Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?’ questions from about September, just waiting for me to say, ‘don’t be ridiculous’ so they can tell me how they’ve pretty much completed every detail. Elf on the Shelf enthusiasts drive me crazy too.

Who has time to come up with 25 naughty elf ideas?

Not this bunny.

Going back to the tree, there are pros and cons of both options. Real trees look spectacular but they drop a lot of pine needles which means you’re constantly sweeping. They are also not a great idea if you have an indoor dog for reasons I’d prefer not to spell out.

Then there is the issue of post-Christmas disposal.

Nothing looks sadder than a withering tree on the wood pile that will have to stay there until the end of March when you can burn it, unless you diligently cut it into green-bin sized offcuts.

The tree you have stored like a safer bet this year.

Though terrible from an environmental perspective, you already own it, so it’s better going up in your lounge-room than being put on the council verge ready for landfill.

May I suggest that in the post-Christmas sales, you purchase a tree in a pot.

This will grow with your family, resolve the real/fake tree dilemma, and be far better from an organisational and environmental perspective for many years to come.

Carpe diem,
Jasminda.