Daddy's Home by Tony Rubino and Gary Markstein for December 04, 2022

Tony asked

Is your tree up?

Already?!? – No.

Were the rest of the trees for city squares? With stumps like that they must have been 10 meters high.

It arrives today before 10pm from you know who. Yay!

Sitting in the box in the garage. The room where the tree normally goes is filled with new furniture, also still in the boxes. Still waiting for the carpet to arrive. Then the fun begins.

Real Christmas trees are renewable resources—you just have to wait ten years between cuttings.

We cut ours from the National Forest. There’s a $5 fee. The trees grow densely and can use thinning.

WOW! Those Christmas lights work anywhere, except on my tree every year.

I like the effect of the star in the night sky in the last panel.

Not really a good message. Trees like that are on tree farms cultivated specifically for Christmas harvesting.

In the US, we don’t have a problem with too many trees being cut down. We have a problem with not enough trees being cut down. Our forests are often overgrown, which leads to much higher fire risks and the spread of diseases.

The clear-cutting of old was problematic, but sustainable forest management is the way to go. Unfortunately, NAFTA killed the domestic lumber industry in favor of Canada. So, too many of our forests are going untended to and are dangerous to humans and trees alike.