Environment . A cut Christmas tree, no matter how lush and lovely, just wasn't going to be green enough for the members of Grace Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, Calif.
Respecting all of nature's creations, they didn't want to kill a perfectly healthy tree, watch it become brittle-needled after a month inside the sanctuary, then kick the sad sapling to the curb post-holiday like yesterday's trash.
So they leased a living tannenbaum instead.
A robust 11-foot-tall live redwood - pot and all - was delivered to the church recently by Eric Manning, owner of San Jose Christmas Tree Rental. It is to be decorated, enjoyed and then picked up in January, taken back to the place of its nativity in Manning's nursery to grow and thrive and be ready for next year's holidays and beyond.
Rental trees are not new in the U.S. Northwest and B.C., but the idea has started taking hold elsewhere in the U.S.
"It's great, what with everyone being into repurposing and reusing," said Manning. "And you don't really have to do anything . . . no needles to clean up. No dead tree to put out to the curb."
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