Dispatches from the sunburned wastelands

When is a Christmas tree not a Christmas tree? When it's going to Boston, apparently. Every year since the great 1917 Halifax explosion, Nova Scotia had been sending a tree to Boston, to thank them for their assistance after the disaster. The Nova Scotia-grown tree is usually the official Boston City Christmas tree, and decorated and displayed for the whole Christmas season. As I understand it, every year there is a NovaScotia-wide search for the perfect tree, and Nova Scotians have always been happy to part with it. However, this year the city of Boston declared that the tree was not to be named a Christmas tree, but a "holiday" tree, to reflect, in their spokesperson's words, an "inclusive holiday spirit". This bit of politically correct humbuggery has put a lot of Nova Scotians up in arms. The guy who gave up this year's tree have said that, had he knew this beforehand, he would rather have put the tree through the shredder.
"It's a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree," he said in an interview on CBC radio this morning, "if it was a holiday tree, we could have sent it to them for Easter!"

Posted by HannesB at 5:29 AM Comments