O Christmas Tree

This week we put away the Christmas tree, actually six Christmas trees, the big one and five small table decorations. Not nearly as much fun as decorating (now done by the grandchildren). We do this every year. We decorate recalling good times past and undecorate anticipating getting back to normal so we can take care of business. Each time the cycle repeats we change things a bit. Early on it was adding decorations the kids had made. One year we realized that bringing in a tree full of pollen and mold was causing itches and sneezing, so we switched to an artificial tree the next year, one that we assembled branch by branch. That was eventually replaced by one pre-strung with lights that could be stored assembled. Years ago, we received a couple of ceramic trees, hand-made gifts from friends now departed. Then we added a small tree for the porch with lights on a timer, a little table-top wooden tree with tiny decorations that would keep the kids busy for an hour, a little musical tree with sleigh and reindeer and electric trains and carols playing, a fiber-optic tree for a shelf in the bathroom. Along the way, the additions became precious, indispensable treasures.

And here we are spending a day undecorating, not my favourite activity.

Wisely, this year there was some simplification. We didn't put the tree on the porch. There may be lights on some of you guys, but there ain't no lights on us. Let me think. How can we shrink the decorations next year?

Did you notice how I snuck in a metaphor? This note is really about something more serious than Christmas trees, a way of thinking and being that must, sooner or later, end in a disastrous collapse of the biosphere. Others, who know what they are writing about, describe this better than I can. Click the link below to go on. When you're done, think about simplifying how we live before we get buried in our precious, indispensable treasures.

Paradigm Shift Needed to Halt Biodiversity Loss: David Suzuki and Ian Hanington
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P.S.:
More Thinking about Thinking: by Yours Truly