Originally Posted by Cacheperl
If you are really worried about the environmental impact, either do not buy a tree or buy a potted one that you can plant afterwards. Works best if you do not have to drive it home in your car.

Regardless, I can very much understand everyone who prefers a tree that is less likely to set your house on fire. Although, using LEDs instead of candles and/or a tree that still lives should work well, too.

<rant>
It annoys me that the moment I say I have a real Christmas tree - no, not one that can be put in the garden afterwards - it seems there is always someone that starts about the environmental impact: ‘O gosh, it is a tree that is cut!’
FFS, I have no kids, I never travel by plane, I ride my bike more often than that I go by (fuel-efficient) car - my ecological footprint is much much smaller than many or even most. So may I please, please enjoy a tree that was sown and grown to be cut for Christmas or do you want me to start nagging about the ecological footprint of you because of your children, your travel habits, your use of plastics, etc. etc.
</rant>

I feel the same about the wild boar I will enjoy for lunch on 25th.

Don't have any tree.

Will visit my parent's and brother who live a few hundred kilometers away.
Plan to eat and drink a lot.
We'll also check by at an Ikea and see if they got the swedish Julmust Drink they are supposed to have.

Regarding Christmas Songs and Movies…look through my library of songs and thought about movies but…well…I got nothin.

Nox Arcana has pretty good winter songs if you like mixing Christmas/Winter with Gothic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-uCkBMfSV4

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Regarding Christmas Songs and Movies…look through my library of songs and thought about movies but…well…I got nothin.

I guess the 5 movies I picked as favorites weren't seen by many… Which is a shame. A shame streaming services will correct for sure as you won't need to wait till Weinstein has mercy and distribute it on optical media with cuts.

But I can't believe you haven't watched none of those I don't care about much, all with christmas theme… These ones:
Home Alone 1 (1990.) & Home Alone 2 (1992.)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989.)
Fred Claus (2007.)
The Ultimate Gift (2006.)
The Holiday (2006.)
The Family Man (2000.)
Jingle All the Way (1996.)
Deck the Halls (2006.)
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006.)
A Christmas Story (1983.)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946.)
The Bishop's Wife (1947.)
White Christmas (1954.)
Elf (2003.)
Die Hard 1 (1988.)
Gremlins 1 (1984.)
Love Actually (2003.)
The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Of course it's not a full list, but I guess these aren't as rotten as others.
The full list is probably this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christmas_films

@joxer

It's not like I don't know/watched any at all. It's just that there isn't a single about I am so thrilled about that I'd recommend it.
I actually liked "Love Actually". Gremlins 1, Home Alone 1 is just too long ago since I last watched it. Same goes with "Die Hard 1" The other ones I don't know.

Actually, there is one movie or rather a mini-series I saw a couple of years ago: Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. Not the best movie in the world. But wasn't bad either.
And with a rather unique story, where Death has to replace Santa Claus


Also pretty sure that there had been one or more christmas themed movies with John Candy which I liked to watch as a kid. Can't recall their names though and can't say if they are any good nowadays

The Hogfather rocks and *is* one of the best movies in the world!
I saw it as two-parter, so yes, probably it's considered as miniseries and not a movie.

I have no idea who's John Candy. When I was still a bit young (okay, not really) I remember some guy named Ernest who's supposed to save christmas in a movie.
Forgot all about it except the name and that I was laughing like crazy during all of that movie:


Not sure I'd love it today too, but I'll try to watch it again sometime to check what was so entertaining to me when I still didn't go totally loco.

Family meets. Eat drink, board games.
Me playing PC games somewhat during the days.
And usually aqttending church as well, but that tradition has eroded during the past 10 yeas. I finally managed to get into my very own tradition to attend the midnight mass again last year, though. Because that's filled with meditation, which makes it so much special.

Originally Posted by Eye
I think my favourite song is this one:

loading…

It took me some time to listen and decide, so I’m curious what you all come up with.

Yeah ! It's so great because it is so quiet and simple ! And because sometimes, less is more !


My personal favourite apart from that one is of course : "Do they know it's christmas ?" - the original, first version. I even still have the vinyl of it, but I haven't listened to its B-side for I think 30 years now …

No tree for me, but we use a small plastic one at my parents where my presence is necessary for Christmas at least, will get drunk the rest of the time and play games on PC ofc, New Year I'm working.. so ill get drunk after. Oh, and food, lots of delicious food (usually more then you can eat so you can feed the friends or donate it to church)

When I was growing up we always had real trees, people make a business of growing trees just for selling them for winter holidays.

Just because it fits so well here

It’s like having a rotten corpse in your house

Hm, sure enjoy ‘your’* fake tree.
And you’ll soon be smelling your own poisoned rotting body.

Artificial Christmas tree can be harmful because it is made of toxic materials. It is usually made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is one of the most widely used synthetic plastic and it contains dangerous chemical additives including phthalates, lead, cadmium, and/or organotins. Vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, is a known human carcinogen, according to the World Health Organization. PVC is the most toxic plastic and a major source of phthalates which are hormone-disrupting chemicals. These toxic chemicals are released from a product into the air. Then we are exposed to phthalates by breathing in air that contains phthalates or touching/ ingesting the dust contaminated with phthalate particles. Phthalates are especially harmful to young children. Most artificial Christmas trees are made of 100% PVC and some trees have combination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene (PE). In addition, artificial Christmas trees often has flame retardant chemicals. These flame retardant chemicals can be inhaled or ingested by breathing in the air or touching the dust around the tree.

Source

* ‘your’ in general and as a reaction to that image, so no, not yours, Kordanor

Undead christmas tree. Isn't that the Stanford University mascot?

This seems appropriate.

Can't forget this beautiful song.

What do you guys think of our live pot planted pine Christmas tree?

Merry Christmas to all.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
What do you guys think of our live pot planted pine Christmas tree?

The presents are almost bigger than the tree

Originally Posted by Myrthos
The presents are almost bigger than the tree

Yep, its a baby tree

We had a real good one this year! So much top tier food and drink, perfect weather to spend all day by the pool.

Originally Posted by Eye
<rant>
It annoys me that the moment I say I have a real Christmas tree - no, not one that can be put in the garden afterwards - it seems there is always someone that starts about the environmental impact

Yeah, it's pretty stupid.

Everyone at my place gets a lot of enjoyment from the real tree. We did try a fake one once but the Christmas tree smell is one of the most important things!

Originally Posted by purpleblob
What do you guys think of our live pot planted pine Christmas tree?

Aww, so cute! It's even got little lights!

No wreaths this year?