Christmas Trees

[JG]

This is just an observation, a comment, from someone whos lived here 5 years.
Have you guys noticed the selection of artificial christmas trees? small, cheapo looking, rather pathetic trees. ive been doing a lot of shopping and so far i havent run across anything good. i guess yet another thing to bring from home next trip.
Im going to run lights on my balcony this year, its almost unheard of where ive been living!

 

[jacobkratz]

My mother-in-law who lives in Lanus has a really nice artificial Christmas tree that she puts up every year. It doesn't look cheap, and I'm not sure where she purchased it.
This year I'm bringing to her a large Christmas wreath for their front door that I picked up from Wal*Mart here in the States for about $20.00. When I mentioned it to my wife she said they never even had a Christmas wreath before!
Can you even buy a live Christmas tree in Argentina? The last Christmas I spent there, 2005, I didn't see one live Christmas tree.

 

[JG]

as i wrote, i havent found any decent artificial trees, not one. seems china doesnt send the same ones here as back home. target had one on sale a week ago, 6 and half feet, for 48 dollars. i havent seen any good christmas trees so far here. and certainly no sales to mention. there arent real sales here, just real inflation.
im going to put blinking lights on my balcony, itll freak out the cheerless block i live on.

 

[tangobob]

If you look at the origins of Christmas, the reasons are obvious. The roman church decided that the best time to celebrate Christs birth was in fact to highjack the midwinter festival ( having little to do with Christs actual birthday).
The lights, the tree and of course bringing in any form of evergreen foliage, was of course a celebration of the spring to come and a demonstration that life will continue after the winter and the daylight will return. All of this has no real significance in the southern hemisphere, where Christmas falls in the middle of summer.
This perhaps makes it a more truly Christian festival, and I for one am glad we are not innundated with tat from the middle of October like the UK. That is why I will spend Christmas in Argentina not the UK.