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Home › Entertainment

Entertainment | 12/17/2008 7:50 am

wowOwow Cartoon of the Week: Tree Trimming

By Liza Donnelly

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Liza Donnelly, noted cartoonist for The New Yorker, is also the editor of the new book Sex and Sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love … in 200 Cartoons.

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Click here for more cartoons from Sex and Sensibility.

Click here for more of Liza Donnelly’s cartoons of the week.

 

Read more about: Cartoons, Christmas, Decorating, Holidays, Illustrations, Liza Donnelly, The New Yorker

36 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

joan larsen
Liza . . . I didn’t know you were the outdoors type — but love it - as that certainly looks like you who decorated that gigantic tree by herself and is now enjoying. And so I am wondering if you could come over to my beautiful home — as the tree is waiting with all the lights in boxes all around. But frankly, could you just COME OVER, as I think that you and I would find it refreshing to just look at the tree as we brought out the bottles of merlot and pinio grigio and just sipped (ha) and talked and talked as we admired the greenery in front of us. I predict the best Christmas we have ever had — and Liza, you would love how welcoming my home is!!! (Now you can see how my brain works and how enticing I can be!) And did I mention how welcoming I can be?????
By joan larsen on 12/17/2008 9:02 am
Jeannot Kensinger
Liza, One tree left and you saved it ! That’s a tree lover cartoon if I ever saw one. And hoorah for you! Thanks for the smile you gave me today.
By Jeannot Kensinger on 12/17/2008 9:26 am
f p
Gee that reminds me of the clear-cutting disasters in Washington state. I flew over the Cascades earlier this year and the devastation is horrendous.
By f p on 12/17/2008 9:53 am
Irish Eyes NY
fp: When exactly did the clear-cutting occur in Washington state? I thought there were laws governing the correct way to remove trees from forests! I know it is limited and clear cutting is not allowed. * As far as Christmas trees are concerned————————they all come from tree farms, where new trees are planted annually to replace the ones harvested.
By Irish Eyes NY on 12/18/2008 4:16 pm
f p
I know about the Xmas tree farms—it’s was the stumps that go me going—clear-cutting is still going on—all one has tp do is fly over the Cascades and see the NEW clear cuts to know this. Clear-cutting has been going on for decades in Washington and Oregon.
By f p on 12/19/2008 11:04 am
Irish Eyes NY
OK, fp; Thanks for the info. I really thought the cutting was all controlled. Do they know what happened in Haiti with the Mahohany (sp) trees? There are none left and the mountains are all bare rock and soil. What a shame it is to see that. I don’t think it will get that bad here. **Its snowing here as i type, how bout where you are??
By Irish Eyes NY on 12/19/2008 11:45 am
f p
Haiti then look at Borneo—it’s so bad there the National Geographic dod a major article on it.
By f p on 12/19/2008 11:58 am
C jay
The devastation wrought by companies like Weyerhaeuser has been going on for decades - I drove my 5 children through those devastated areas in SE Oklahoma in the 1980s where the companies posted expensive signs proclaiming their reforestation work (after they sliced everything down to the ground) and what was there? Minute seedlings in the earth, none over 4” tall for miles and miles. What a travesty. Yet, today we have to search out plastics embedded in our fine wood furniture if we want to still purchase top quality, solid wood that will last for generations (I still have all of my solid wood furniture from the late 1960s and cherish it). Where is the wood going? Cutting a tree for the holidays is certainly a fun activity for an outing, but wouldn’t it be just as much fun to gather fallen greens, leaves, pine cones, etc and make wreaths, table decor, et al from those that are not growing? Why on earth would anyone have a “tree farm” to only sell those fabulous gifts to our earth and profit from them? Boggles the mind.
By C jay on 12/25/2008 2:49 pm
georgia fatwood
Are you not paying attention to Kentucky and all the Appalachians where Bush, et. al., have said that it’s OK to scrape mountaintops and dump all of it into streams? And we have until today to keep them from stealing the public lands for drilling and it is irreversible? Too late now…again……
By georgia fatwood on 12/19/2008 12:17 am
C jay
Ah ha, no wonder Liza had to commemorate the only existing tree and take ownership of it. We did that years back to the oldest tree of it’s kind in Arlington TX - and the municipal idiots moved it to save it! Needless to say, that glorious spirit died and took some of our spirit with it.
By C jay on 12/25/2008 2:54 pm
phyllis Doyle Pepe
Mitzi’s Miracle Itsy, bitsy Mitzi dressed in her lavender boots Plunges through the snow on her way to trim a tree that stands alone, tall and proud down to its buried roots. Out of her bright wee melon bag come ornaments galore, And with the help of birds of feather Mitzi decorates the tree. “Look at you, my lovely fir, could you ask for anything more? “No,” says the tree, “I’m dressed to the hilt, you’ve given me reason to rejoice in this season of hard-scrabble lives and cold winter chills. So I bless you, wee Mitzi, may you always stay warm and cozy within. So sit there and view my splendor, and beam As I gloriously gleam, as I preen like a Queen! ” Merry Christmas to you and to all the trees everywhere!
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 12/17/2008 10:26 am
phyllis Doyle Pepe
Dear Lily of the fields and valleys and beyond–––thank you and a Merry Christmas to you also. Speaking of trees: As you and I have an abundance of them surrounding our homesteads may I tell you how I love these magnificent specimens. Their grandeur leaves me, at times, almost in awe. It’s their sturdiness that I admire most, I think. Year after year they remain steadfast and do what trees are supposed to do––they are most dependable–––so unlike what we have had to put up with in this era of greed and mayhem.
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 12/17/2008 5:18 pm
mary lou s
i know evergreens look good all the time, but the real miracles come from the deciduous trees that change their coats every fall and make new ones every spring. there’s nothing like the miracle of spring. merry christmas to both of you.
By mary lou s on 12/17/2008 8:33 pm
Agyness O
I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree….but this was so wonderful, Fillus. Merry Christmas right back at you!
By Agyness O on 12/18/2008 2:42 pm
beth willis
Dear Liza, you have created a memorable cartoon here, in tune(toon) with the times. Many are familiar with Shel Silverstein’s ‘The Giving Tree’, the tree always giving to the growing boy until the tree finally is reduced to a stump. I think the first two stumps were ‘giving trees’ which thought they were helping Mr. Madoff and his like. BUT the last tree, the beautifully decorated tree being so warmly admired by ‘a giver’ speaks to those of us who seek to delight and share in the glow of our honest efforts. Thank you for this gift, Liza, and peace and grace to you for sharing and delighting us. Peace and grace to wOw
By beth willis on 12/17/2008 11:41 am
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