Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree, How Lovely, Your Trunk! Part 1

It is that time of year, twenty days before Christmas, when on nearly EVERY street corner (at least in NYC where I live), you hear, not only silver bells, but folks calling out saying that they have Christmas trees for sale.

Many of the folks selling Christmas trees come from Canada and they can be distinguished from other vendors by the fact that they not only sell trees; but they have (also for purchase) holiday figurines made from parts of the trees (branches, trunks, twigs).
It is common knowledge that when someone buys a tree, the vendor often has to cut part of the trunk off as well as some branches; and these portions of the tree often get discarded into the garbage. However, the Canadian vendors (that I have seen here in NYC), re-purpose the "unwanted" part of a given tree that they sell by turning them into adorable reindeer figurines.

I first discovered this in 2011 when I was shopping for a wreath to use for advent and I noticed some adorable reindeer figurines atop a table near the vending station of the tree/wreath seller. They can be seen in image one accompanying this post.

I found the attention to detail in the creation of these little animals to be awesome and found it truly inspiring to see "unwanted" parts of Christmas trees be given a role in the season! It is a marvelous way to recycle, and the figurine can be used from year to year although its pinecone tail and branch antlers may need replacing.

This particular vendor also had a larger version of her reindeer tree sculpture and it can be seen next to the small one (to give you a sense of scale) in the second image of today's HT entry.

I ultimately purchased a few of them and placed them in my garden for the 2011-2012 Christmas season. A photo-op can be found in the third picture. They held up quite well and I was even able to spruce (excuse the pun) them up the following season (by replacing their pinecone tails and branch antlers) and give them to my mother who enjoyed them for the 2012-2013 Christmas season and will do so this year too.

As for me, I still have the company of branch-and-trunk reindeer this season, but mine are much smaller and from a different group of Christmas tree/wreath vendors who are also from Canada, and I'll tell you about them in Part Two of this series re the loveliness of Christmas Tree trunks.

BTW, I am not too nimble but for those who are, I am certain you could make these reindeer from the discarded parts of your Christmas tree!
TheLastLeafGardener
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Loretta Loretta on Aug 02, 2016
    love this... but how do you perserve the wood? I am wanting to try a few things with branches and tree trunks, but how do I make it last?
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  • April April on Dec 06, 2013
    LOL! That's cute! Thanks for sharing! :)
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    • April April on Dec 07, 2013
      @TheLastLeafGardener - Aww, you're welcome! :D I agree, it sure is. It's so cute. The link from that page, about your previous years decorations, that reindeer reminds me of a couple that I have, made very similarly. It's one of our favorites. :)
  • Sharon Richardson Sharon Richardson on Dec 06, 2014
    Those are so adorable!!!!! I just love them! Husband. . .? Oh husband?
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