Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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Subject Topic: Keeping your tree alive ? Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Natalia
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Posted: Nov 28 2006 at 6:03pm | IP Logged Quote Natalia
Traditionally we have decorated our house for Christmas on the third Sunday of Advent. But my kids always complain that everybody else have their house decorated. This year I am planning on decorating for Advent and then for switch after Christmas.I think that will calm them and also will help us to be more aware of the season. I found a beautiful purple wreath at Kmart (Martha Stewart collection) and some beautiful purple ornaments.

Now for the tree question, my dh is concerned that if we buy the tree too early it might not make it until Epiphany. For those of you that put up your tree early, does your tree make to Epiphany? It seems that even when we buy on the 3rd Sunday of Advent, the tree is dry and brittle by Jan 6th. This might be related to the fact that frequently we have gone away for a few days. If you go away, do you have any trick to keep your tree watered and alive?

Thanks,

Natalia
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lapazfarm
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Posted: Nov 28 2006 at 6:19pm | IP Logged Quote lapazfarm
One trick is to be sure to trim an inch or more off of the bottom of the trunk before placing it in water in your stand. This opens up the vessels that carry the water up the trunk so that the tree will absorb more water and stay fresher longer. If you dont re-cut the bottom it gets sealed up with the sap from the original cut and won't absorb water well.

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kjohnson
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Posted: Nov 28 2006 at 6:40pm | IP Logged Quote kjohnson
I was told by our local garden center owner that it doesn't matter if you put up the trip early or late. They are all cut down at the same time. Just keep it watered and like Theresa said, make sure an inch is cut off the bottom. The tree is going to get dry at some point, but I think giving it that tree food they sell when you buy them helps a bit. Though I wonder if sugar would do the same thing.

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Katherine
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marihalojen
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Posted: Nov 28 2006 at 8:24pm | IP Logged Quote marihalojen
Keep it cool, and when the needles drop just get a new one. We had so much fun dragging Christmas trees in on the farm with our horses when I was a kid that we went through 3 inside the house one year and I don't know how many wreaths outside!

Of course, they were cedars and Dad didn't tell us until Spring that he wanted that field cleared anyway...

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stefoodie
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Posted: Nov 28 2006 at 8:27pm | IP Logged Quote stefoodie
marihalojen wrote:
Dad didn't tell us until Spring that he wanted that field cleared anyway...




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MacBeth
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Posted: Nov 28 2006 at 8:59pm | IP Logged Quote MacBeth
I'm sure I told this story before, but I have a good friend who is a chemist...a world-famous chemist who knows how to preserve a Christmas tree. If you use glycerin (like the procedure for preserving autumn leaves--see my autumn page), you can keep the tree green with minimal effort. And glycerin is biodegradable.

One year, though, this friend of mine could not find any glycerin in his lab, so he used something very similar...unfortunately, the tree metabolized all of the additive into formaldehyde, and dropped each and every needle as my friend and his wife desperately tried to rid their house of the noisome tree.

Personally, I like to vacuum needles, as they make the vacuum small great.

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