Clients and friends know that I love trees. In this magnificent world of ours, we all have a place and a purpose. Some of us have many places and many purposes. It is certainly true that trees have many purposes.

Here are just a few of the purposes and missions of the tree kingdom:

• food production for humans and animals
• bird housing
• sturdy support for exercising
• to hold Christmas and other holiday ornaments
• housing for the insects that are food for birds and other animals
• backdrop for tourist pictures
• leaf production
• nesting/birthing places for creatures
• sanctuary for cats to escape from dogs
• shade
• absorption of automobile exhaust fumes and other toxins
• means to record ancestry
• fragrance
• meditation and relaxation spot
• storage space for liquids such as water and sap especially for times of drought
• muscle stretching leaning place
• fertilizer for the ground below
• brace for a hammock
• a safe place for small animals to view the world
• place to rest after a strenuous bike ride
• protection for smaller plants and seedlings
• teachers of gardeners
• a higher vantage point for all who sit in or atop
• hillside erosion prevention

And trees continue to breathe and support us after they are no longer attached to their roots, as:

• paper
• furniture
• building structures
• half the supermarket question (paper or plastic?)
• bridges
• piers
• wood chips
• baskets
• cardboard
• bark paintings
• saw dust
• firewood
• tooth picks

If you decorate a tree in the holiday season, I encourage you to honor it and dispose of it respectfully.