Forest for the trees

Christmas trees are for sale right now around town. One of the ironies is that in a place this close to the North Pole and this cold is that there are no naturally growing trees (well, there’s that one guy in town that’s been growing a pine tree or something for the past 15 years and I’m still taller than it) which means if you want a real Christmas tree, they have to be flown in.

Perhaps it's because I’m from a place where you can still theoretically go into the woods and cut your own damn Christmas tree, but there is something about flying in trees from down south that strikes me as weird. Not that we would be buying one anyway for several very good reasons. First, we’re not going to be here. Cathy is on the Great Teacher Exodus Flight on Dec. 15. No kidding, classes end at noon on that Friday. There’s a First Air flight out at 1 p.m. If there is somebody on that plane who isn’t a teacher or related to one, it will be a miracle. They will likely all be hammered by the time they reach Ottawa three hours later.

Anyway, Cathy’s gone on the 15th, I’m gone on the 20th. We’re back on the 2nd (We’re in a secure building and have a housesitter in case you’re reading this and thinking about breaking in) So aside from some lights up in the window, there will be no sense in putting up much in the way of decorations. We’re not going to be here for most of the holidays.

Also, Cathy is allergic to trees. Yeah, one of those things. She loves real Christmas trees and each year threatens to tough it out anyway. But no.

Finally, I have no earthly idea where we would put it in the apartment. We would have to hang the couch out the window to make room for a tree in the living room. I’m not kidding when I say it’s a small apartment.

So yeah, no tree, no place to put up all those decorations we’ve acquired over the years. I would say there’s always next year, but we might be going to Costa Rica for Christmas in 2007. So we’ll see.

At any rate, if you want to buy a real, imported from the south Christmas tree in Iqaluit this year, providing you can find one since they go pretty fast, is about $85, Think about that the next time you head to mall parking lot in the next week or so and grumble at paying $30 for a tree.