Today I want to examine another change to Christmas traditions that arrived this year. Amazon announced that customers could order live (well, technically dying, but whatever) Christmas trees delivered to their homes directly. Apparently Amazon contracts with local nurseries to arrange to have fresh cut trees delivered to your home…Amazon Prime members don’t have to pay for shipping.
Of course you have been able to have an artificial tree delivered by Amazon for many years. I have purchased ornaments, Christmas cards, and countless gifts from Amazon, so the concept of Amazon as a Christmas source is nothing new. It also isn’t completely new to purchase a fresh cut tree unseen. I remember seeing fund raisers where you would pick your tree by type and size weeks before and pick it up near the holiday. However, like many changes in the digital world, this struck me, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
I’m definitely of two minds about this. On one hand, I am nervous about any further invasion of American life by Amazon. I also immediately grew nostalgic for the “Christmas Story” trips to the tree lot, sizing up the tree with the whole family and making a collective decision on which the success of the whole holiday seemed to rest. I also wondered about the lots run by churches and other charities, and I grew resentful of the latter day George Baileys being muscled out by Potters all over again.
On the other hand, perhaps I am blinded by nostalgia colored lenses. My experience of buying a Christmas tree for the past few years has been much less holly and jolly. I run across the street to the Home Depot (the Potters whose lower prices knocked out the Baileys in my world a long time ago) and select a tree as quickly as I can. I wait in line for a fresh cut of the trunk, and then I rush it home. Though I have had some trees that were nicer shaped than others, once lights and ornaments are on, I can’t really tell the difference. What part of this experience would I lose having a tree delivered?
My friend David feels much more strongly that the selection of a tree is an essential part of Christmas, and I suppose that what you attach importance to becomes important. I suspect there will be enough “choosers” to keep the Christmas tree lots in business for the rest of my lifetime. But next year I might consider a “tree in a box.”
How about you?
Image: My Christmas tree 2018