Making the Most of Your Tree After Christmas
• Your tree can be used as Yard Garden Decor by putting your Live Christmas Trees outside with suet, peanut butter, seeds, and orange slices all over it to serve as a gigantic Christmas feeder for the birds. A couple of trees stacked together will make a whole grove for the birds, and protect them against the cold and wind while they eat.
• Place small whole trees or very big branches from the larger trees along the sides and on the tops of beds of perennials, roses, and other plants to protect them from the sun and wind.
• Break off some branch tips and shake off their needles for use in sachets, so the needles keep their scent longer for things such as potpourri.
• You can trim the Live Christmas Trees trunk and big branches down to use in your fireplace, a couple of logs at a time to keep you warm and cozy.
• Use trimmed trunks for stakes, tripods, and trellises in your garden. This is a great way to add beauty to your garden, naturally.
• Put cut branches in a window box. Or use them as decorative mulch around street trees. An added plus to whole-branch mulch is the fact that the tree branches will keep flyaway loose mulch in place.
• Spread trees along beaches to encourage the development of sand dunes. If you live near the coastal waters most beach areas have programs for beach erosion. You can take your Christmas tree to a beach area location to preserve the beaches.
• Use whole or cut-up trees as filler in gullies. They will control natural erosion by holding in all kinds of organic debris.
• You can also throw the trees in a lake; the fish will use them as a hiding space for their eggs and from predators.
• If you do not have time to do none of the above, simply purchase a disposable Christmas Tree Storage Bags and place it outside for the trash pick-up. Remember they will only pick it up the Christmas tree if it is properly prepared for disposal.

Different Christmas Trees you will find:

Norway Spruce:
Very full and symmetrical with short, dark green, single needles, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long and mild fragrance. They have reddish brown bark with slightly drooping branches that make it difficult to decorate. Somewhat poor needle retention, especially if allowed to dry out.

Douglas Fir:
A very symmetrical member of the hemlock family with short, yellow-green to deep green needles that is flexible and soft to touch. The Douglas Fir is easy to decorate with reddish or dark brown bark. It has very good needle retention with pungent, aromatic fragrance.

Scotch Pine:
Bushy and pyramidal in shape with dark blue-green needles, 1 1/2 to 3 inches in length, that cluster in pairs. It has bright orange-red bark with excellent needle retention. Remains green even after the tree is dry and a mild fragrance.

Virginia Pine:
Asymmetrical, with branches markedly separated. Grayish to yellowish green needles, two to a cluster, 1 1/2 to 3 inches long. It has purplish bark with good needle retention and mild fragrance.

Fraser Fir:
This fir is symmetrical in shape, with irregular spaces between branches. Dark green, short needles, 1/2 to l 1/4 inches long. The Fraser Fir has brownish gray bark with excellent needle retention and a very pleasant fragrance.

Eastern Red Cedar:
Bushy and symmetrical in shape with flattened, scale like, dark blue-green needles that are extremely short. It has reddish-brown bark with good needle retention and mild fragrance.

Eastern White Pine:
Conical and symmetrical in shape with silvery, thin, flexible blue-green needles, 2 to 5 inches in length, five to a cluster. Branches are dense and horizontal with grayish to dark green bark and good needle retention. This pine has a mild fragrance.

Colorado Blue Spruce:
The Colorado Blue Live Christmas Trees are almost perfectly symmetrical. Short, lush, sharp, silver-blue to blue-green needles with pale gray and sometimes reddish bark. It has very poor needle retention with mild fragrance.

Balsam Fir:
This fir is symmetrical in shape with irregular spaces between branches with dark green short, flat, glossy needles that grow at right angles to the branches. Smooth bark, either gray or brown in color. It is easy to decorate with good needle retention and a strong but very pleasant fragrance.

Do not wait until the last minute to purchase your Live Christmas Trees or Artificial Christmas Trees For Sale. The longer you wait, the less you will have to choose from. Do not be embarrassed to ask what kind of tree it is, and be sure to remember how you liked it. Everyone has preferences, and a little attention to what you liked or didn’t like will help you get just what you want for next Christmas.
For many city dwellers and their children, the Christmas season really starts with a nostalgic walk through an evergreen “plantation,” the new term for choose-and-cut tree farms. Armed with a tape measure, warm boots, and soup in a thermos, these people are on a quest for a fresh, specially selected Live Christmas Tree at something of a bargain price. Do not forget to purchase your disposable Christmas Tree Storage Bags for easy removal.
Some bring a saw to cut down their choice; others carry a spade, burlap, and twine to dig up and bag their tree. In either case, they are benefiting the environment: Two or three new trees will be planted in the space vacated by one, and these young trees give off far more oxygen than older ones. Unlike Live Christmas Trees, Artificial Prelit Christmas Trees do not give off oxygen or that seasonal pine scent.
Cut-your-own operations are booming, providing 20 percent of the 35 million trees Americans take home every Christmas. There are more than 2,000 such farms, in every state except Hawaii and, surprisingly, Alaska.
Take your Live Christmas Trees home, cut a little off the end if the stump is long enough, and leave it outside in a bucket of water. Then cut it again before you take it inside and placing it in your Christmas Tree Stands. Cutting the stump is very important so do not forget this step. It will help your tree last longer! Give your tree a good shake before bringing it in so all the loose needles fall off before entering your house. This will cut down on the mess that Live Christmas Trees make.

Once upon a time, before the coming of television changed our Christmas habits permanently, the greatest entertainment of the holiday season was the advent of the Christmas annual. Families would eagerly await publication of each year’s volume, crammed with uplifting contributions from eminent authors and illustrators of the period, and gather together to read it aloud to each other. The idea persisted for quite a while in the “bumper books” for children that used to be published each Christmas, but we have little time these days for reading Christmas Stories aloud and the annual has become—almost a fairy story but still a great Gifts for Boys and Unique Gift Ideas For Girls.
The Christmas Annual
An unidentified elderly gentleman wrote in the Dublin University Magazine in 1847 that: Of all the many attractions which Christmas possesses in our old eyes . . . there are few to be compared to a quiet hour in our easy chair by the fireside, while, spread out upon the table before us lie, in all the gorgeous array of their crimson and gold binding, the Christmas Books.
A Christmas Annual was a special book, usually an anthology of poetry, prose, and pictures, issued in November or early December in time to be bought and presented as Unique Christmas Gifts. In Great Britain and the United States, in the five decades of the 1820s through the 1860s, the Christmas Annual was so popular a gift that thousands upon thousands of copies of nearly a hundred competing titles were issued, sold, wrapped, and given as presents. Many of these were bound in gold-stamped red leather or red boards; others, not so elaborately decorated, were still found wrapped in intense colors of gold and blue or turquoise and black.
The origins and predecessors of these annuals have been debated. One surmise is that they were extensions of the special Christmas numbers of magazines, especially children’s magazines popular in the 18th century. The Juvenile Magazine, a monthly which last published in 1788, offered each December an issue with a special title page that was produced far more elegantly than usual. Similarly, The Youth’s Magazine (1816) added to its December number extra engravings in the spirit of holiday festivities.
Another suggestion is that the Christmas annual is related to two familiar and popular English publications, the pocket diary and the almanac. Some pocket diaries included poems, stories, and essays devoted to such subjects as country dances or prominent persons in the news. The almanacs frequently included engravings meant to symbolize each month, and they also offered pages filled with information on such various subjects as royalty charts of Europe and lists of members of Parliament.
For a vogue, Christmas Stories had a surprisingly long life: Forget Me Not did not cease publication until 25 issues had come out, Friendship’s Offering ended after 21 years, and The Keepsake lasted 30 years, until 1857. In the United States the record holder is The Rose of Sharon, with 18 annual publications, and The Token is second with 15. Between 1846 and 1852 there were nearly 60 annuals published, but by 1860 the American literary Christmas gift was virtually extinct.

A Christmas Story of the Birth of Christ by St. Luke (This is an updated version for easier reading.)
Gospel According to St Luke
CHAP. II
Verse 1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 And this taxing was first made when Copernicus boas governor of Syria.
3 And all went to be taxed every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the house and linage of David)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her first born Son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn.
8 And there were in the same countries shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And loe, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shine round about them, and they were so afraid.
10 And the Angel said unto them, fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes Iying in a Medium Sized Wooden Manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saving,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.
15 And it came to pass, as the Angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, Joseph and Jesus Iying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying, which was told them, concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it, wondered at those things, which were told them by the shepherds.
19 Put Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying & praising God (or all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.)

As the year comes full circle, it comes time to make ready, once again, for the Christmas holiday season. In a sense, the preparations have gone on for months and, for suppliers, the planning may have started years in advance. Hallmark was the retailer that broke the traditional holiday tradition by promoting their Christmas Stocking Stuffers specials even before the Thanksgiving turkey grows cold on the table.
The warmth of the kitchen with the holiday cooking from our Christmas Books of jellies and relishes bubbling on top of the stove, with gleaming gift jars ranged to receive them. With the special once-a-year foods taking shape within it, adding their unique scents to an atmosphere already becomes electric with excitement.
The Germans originated Advent calendars to honor the month prior to Christ’s birth by opening a new door each day. This custom spread to America in the early colonial days. The thrill of opening a tiny door each day from the first of December all the way to the 25th, builds anticipation for the upcoming holiday.
In the days of our blissful belief, when we were very young, our adrenalin would be in overdrive by the time we had to go to bed on Christmas Eve—leaving cookies and milk near the fireplace for Santa Claus with a last written reminder of what we wanted most to find in the Christmas Stockings hanging from the mantel.
Once in bed, we would toss and turn, then sit up to listen for the tiny hoof beats of Santa’s reindeer landing on the roof. Sleep seemed as if it would never come and the sound of talk and laughter would float up from downstairs. Why did the grown-ups take so long to go to bed? Santa couldn’t possibly come while anyone was still awake.
Eventually sleep would come and we wouldn’t even know it until that magic moment when our eyes suddenly blinked open and rushed to see what Santa had brought us.
So Christmas comes again and despite all the changes we have made in it, and the commercial advantages we have found in it, we cannot remove the loving spirit from this dearest of holidays.

Is staying fresh challenging while wearing those heavy Santa Clause Suits and Santa Costume all day listening to all the children’s stories? Our newest Santa suits are the first to incorporate a new body odor fighting material called Odegon. Odegon is a soft thin personal hygiene tag, chemical free, odorless, non-allergenic and environmentally friendly patch. This odor absorbing material uses nano technology to harness and store the molecules responsible for body odor and locks the bad odor away. It can be ironed or sewn onto the underarms of our Santa suit jackets or our Santas Elves and Children’s Santa Claus Costume. Cleaning is simple, they can be washed on a normal cycle but we suggest dry cleaning them after every fifteen washes. Dry cleaning will replenish the tags’ odor absorbing properties. These comfortable Odor Pads have a soft outer fabric that does not irritate and cannot be felt against the skin. In most cases they are never noticed.
The Odegon anti-odor tags use a unique nano-porous structure which dynamically adsorbs unpleasant odors molecules. They physically capture molecules that smell in its fiber mesh. The smell is also grasped permanently with a process known as Van der Waals forces. Odegon Anti-odor tags are attached to the seams of any garment and as long as the Odor Tags are in place and kept clean, they will continue to keep you odor free! This is a Santa Beards Santa Claus Belts and Accessories must for all Santa’s out there.

Note: Odegon is not designed to absorb perspiration but engineered to removing odor. Deodorants and antiperspirants should still be used with Odegon odor control systems. They are designed to absorb odor, not to keep you dry. They will keep you worry free about body odor so that you can relax all day or night while playing Santa.
Odegon is ideal for all garments you wear when odor is a problem. Once the Odegon Anti-odor tags are applied to your Santa Suit or any work uniform they will start to work the moment your garment is worn. We sell the Odegon Anti-odor tags separately. Select the following link to study and buy our Set of 2 Odegon Underarm Odor Remover Tags for any type of clothing.

The season of giving Unique Christmas Gifts has been associated with Christmas since the Three Kings presented Baby Jesus with the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The first unique homemade Christmas gifts were simple like a few twigs from a sacred grove, Yard Garden Decor statues of gods and food. As the years passed the gifts become more elaborate and less edible. The Unique Gifts were exchanged during the New Years celebrations in ancient Rome. It wasn’t til the late 1800’s the custom of gift giving was finally transferred to Christmas instead of the New Years.
In the 18th century, Christmas gifts and Christmas Stocking Stuffers started having advertisements. These advertisements suggested that gifts were to be bought for the children and dependents, including servants. It wasn’t until later that shopping for Gifts for Him and Unusual Gifts For Mom started being a part of the holiday shopping. Like now, people had a hard time deciding who to buy for. These people were usually given GIM-CRACKS, which have now been replaced with the Christmas Card. Gim Cracks are a cheap showy object with little or no use.
After King Henry III started closing down the merchants of England for not liking the gift they presented to him Christians tried to do away with the gift exchange. Their efforts on trying to outlaw the custom they then sought Christian justifications from church leaders. The justifications came from Magi’s act of bearing Unique Baby Gifts to baby Jesus and the fact that Christ was a gift from God to the world. Some countries still waited until January 6th, the day Magi presented the gifts to Jesus, to give their gifts.
Even though Gift Giving started back in ancient times, we owe the tradition of Christmas presents to the Victorians. Not only did they bring back the warmth and spirit of Christmas but they started to concentrate more on the children and the less fortunate. The Victorians felt gift giving was an expression of kindness and put a lot of thought and creativity in the gifts for Christmas. Later, Americans expanded on the concept and introduced Santa Claus, named after St. Nicholas who was legendary for his generosity.

Aristotle is accredited with creating one of the first nut opening devices and even Leonardo Da Vinci tried to develop a design, but it is seventeenth century Germany where the tale of the holiday nutcrackers begins.  It was Erzgebirge, Germany where these dolls made a transition from hobby to profitable good.

Some of the earliest models were made to be satirical caricatures of the ruling king or queen, religious leaders, soldiers, gendarmes, and holiday characters.  It is said these miniature soldiers bring with them good luck and protection to the home they are given to, which is one major reason for them to be given as popular Christmas gifts during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Though these items had grown popular as Christmas gifts in Europe, and the nineteenth century saw large scale sales at Christmas fairs, it was the eighteen-ninety-two premier of The Nutcracker Suite which caused a surge in European popularity.

Despite European popularity, it was not until the mid twentieth century, with the help of the newly gained American popularity of The Nutcracker Suite and the help of a world war, that these items would become popular as festive gifts in America.  With the American occupation of Europe, holiday nutcrackers began being sent back to America as Christmas gifts by the thousands.  It was the heartfelt gifts of the World War II G.I.’s and the heart-warming story of the Nutcracker Suite that caused this item to gain its place as a permanent festive fixture in America.

It was also this point in time when the market began to mass produce holiday nutcrackers all over the world.  Today when produced, these wooden chestnut guards are for collection pieces rather than function, and even though places like China and India mass produce these items, traditional European woodwork houses still produce festive nut opening devices the same way they have for centuries.  Whether or not one is looking for a modern adaptation or a piece of Christmas history to crack open a chestnut, combined with the prospect of good fortune, there is no reason every home should not have holiday nutcrackers to help guard the nuts this Christmas.

The fashion of decorating for the holidays has continually become more extravagant, and so the use of holiday outdoor lights is continually growing as well.  Since the seventeenth century, people have been using different forms of radiance to decorate for festivals, but it was not until nineteen-fifties in North Carolina that people began using festival lanterns outside.

A major difference between indoor and holiday outdoor lights is resistance to moisture and weather conditions.  Outside lamps are specifically made so that the bulbs are resistant to moisture and will not short out.  They are also made for tolerating decently extreme temperatures.  Another positive feature of outside illuminators is the fact they are wired parallel instead of in series.  This means when one bulb goes out, the current is able to bypass the dead bulb and complete the circuit, instead of resulting in the whole string of bulbs going dead.

When one is searching for holiday outdoor lights online, there are several bulb styles to consider: C7’s and C9’s, miniatures, rope light, and LED’s.  C7’s and C9’s are considered classic Christmas bulbs and generally are almost exclusively for outside use.  Miniatures were developed later in attempt to provide much more radiance for the same amount of power as C7’s and C9’s.  It was after the development of miniatures that rope lamps were created.

Rope lanterns are very similar to miniatures; however, all the bulbs are encased in clear PVC tubing.  By insulating the bulbs, it is much easier and efficient for perimeter designs and installations.  Also, if one feels incandescent bulbs are too costly and inefficient on energy consumption all of the previous styles can be purchased in the form of a LED bulb.

However, this is not where one’s choices stop.  Available for purchase are holiday outdoor lights such as net lanterns, garland lamps, illuminated sculptures, and illuminated motifs.  It is a plethora of designs and types that ensure holiday outdoor lights will stay brightly on the forefront of everyone’s mind when decorating each festival season.