Kensington LobbyI haven’t been much in the Christmas spirit despite living in one of the decorating epicenters of Brooklyn. There is a guy with a Christmas-ized working Ferris Wheel on his front lawn that I walk by everyday and even that doesn't affect me. I think it's because I was raised in a house where we never got a tree until Christmas Eve. All my life I thought it was a quaint old world tradition (well, actually it kind of is) but a couple years ago I found out the real reason we did that was because the trees were half price on Christmas Eve.
Another childhood memory shattered.
These days you can't even get a tree on Christmas Eve; I know because I've tried in the past. All the sellers are gone. But ironically the sidewalks are already full of discarded trees as so many people leave town over Christmas and don’t want to come home to a dead tree. So a tip from me, if buying a 75 dollar Christmas tree is something you can’t fathom or afford this year, you can get one for free quite possibly as early as next Friday. This town is going to be deserted as Christmas falls on a Monday and mark my words the sidewalks, particularly in the posh brownstone neighborhoods, are going to be littered with perfectly good trees (the poor dears!).
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8 comments:
Leave it to FIB to give us a good street 'trash' tip...one man's treasure...
Echoing FIB's brilliant idea - Park Slope sidewalks are full of 'em every year. (Not to mention, "large item" trash goes out Friday night ... prime picking!)
Also...even though your family got their tree on Christmas Eve for financial reasons every year, it still sounds like it became a nice family tradition -- what better way to spend X-mas Eve than trimming the tree?!
True, anon, I have very fond memories of going around with my father trying to find a tree, our trees always had chunks missing that we had to hide somehow, but I thought that was normal and Christmas Eve was always the bigger day with us. Somehow we would buy a tree, decorate it, go to mass, have a big dinner at home and then open presents within a span of 12 hours!
I think bargain-hunting for trees actually was a good family tradition!
Being a Jewish guy from Brooklyn, I suppose I would have to be the one to appreciate that!
Still, I have to wonder about taking in discarded Xmas trees. You could get Dutch Elm Disease (DED) or something! And I certainly do not advocate taking in any stray Menorahs either, folks. You know that miracle of the oil burning for eight days straight when there was only enough for one day? Well, plug in that discarded Menorah, your house will burn for eight days! You have been warned, y'all....
Never mind Dutch Elm Disease, bedbugs are epidemic in Brooklyn these days so street foragers beware! (Tip: If you simply MUST lug that thing home, a short zap in the microwave will kill any lurking bugs -- but remember, anything metallic, even metallic threads will go up in smoke!)
My dad and I would also go out on Christmas eve to hunt down our tree. It would inevitably have big barren splotches, but I grew to love that--who wants a cookie cutter tree anyway? Now I get my tree a week or two before and I can't even find a fucked up looking tree.
Judy-re; perfect trees.
I was actually thinking about that myself the other day. They are all so perfect and a lot thicker and lusher than the trees I remember. Probably all genetically engineered or something now!
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