Christmas Day, Xmas trees

Jagun Nature Reserve is relatively new, and from a forest of Gumbaynggirr hunting and food gathering it became a farm. Plenty of trees were cut down.

The stumps are now living history, and are also habitats providing food and shelter for invertebrates, fungi, mosses, lichens.
And thus they become a food source for small amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
I would prefer a tree to stay in the ground it is meant be in, interconnected with many other trees in a forest its ancestors helped seed. Yet, more living goes on in dead wood than living and the wood, being slowly broken-down, returns materials back to the soil.
Many large Victorian gardens had a stumpery which coincided with a fashion/craze for ferns. They were an area where old stumps, logs and tree trunks were arranged for their look and for providing a shady habitat, particularly for ferns. I find these stumps beautiful, and call them Jagun’s living/dead sculptures.

FYI. The Carbon Trust report that a real Christmas tree has a significantly lower” carbon footprint than an plastic tree, particularly if it is recycled.[1]

[1] Sabrina Barr, ‘The Great Christmas Tree Debate’, The Independent. 30.11.2020.