Fake or real ?

[Moemg]

Fake or real Christmas tree ?? We do real because in Florida it is so not like Christmas to me that at least the tree is real. It's a hassle but I love the smell.

[kumquat]

How about none? No hassles, no environmental damage, just December

[Goonie]

Fake. No dropping needles. No major fire hazard. No paying an arm & a leg for a 'dead' tree that will get run through a wood chipper a week after Christmas!

We had a 'pre-lit' tree for a couple of years, but 2 of the pre-mounted light strings went bad and quit working all together. So we tossed it out, and bought a very nice 4' fiber optic tree last year. It only has one bulb to replace if it goes out! We still decorate it pretty much like we always have done, maybe a few less ornaments, but not many.

Our last tree prior to the pre-lit one, was purchased for about $30 back in '67 or '68 and served us well, but the poor old thing was starting to fall apart....and was shedding needles just like a real one!

[cj]

We have gone back and forth over the years. Had a fake one for about 6-8 years, missed the real ones so we got rid of the fake one and had real ones for a few years. Then we got tired of the mess, got a nice fake one a couple years ago at an after-Christmas sale. Now we just sold the nice fake one as we are planning to downsize, and won't have the room to store it (it was in 3 boxes, one of which was pretty big). Maybe next year we'll start doing real ones again, but smaller. Less mess, and we don't have to store it year-to-year.

There are advantages and disadvantages either way. And either way, the cats do their best to climb and/or dismantle it.

CJ

[calmloki]

Real here in the heart of the Christmas tree farms. $10-20 to one of the local charity's tree sales outlets and enjoy the smell in the evening. Be different if it was Big City prices - then i'd spluge on balsam insense sticks, but sure wouldn't get one 'o them flocked up trees!

[Goonie]

Actually I do have 2 live Christmas trees growing in big containers on the patio. One is a Dwarf Blue Spruce that I've had for about 5 years, and the other is Dwarf Norway Spruce that I just got this past spring. And both were purchased for the express purpose of being outdoor patio Christmas trees!

[Moemg]

[quote=Goonie;584960]Fake. No dropping needles. No major fire hazard. No paying an arm & a leg for a 'dead' tree that will get run through a wood chipper a week after Christmas!


I know I'm still dealing with last years needles .

[W2R]

None.

But when I did get a tree (when my daughter was at home), it was always a real Douglas fir - - the biggest I could fit in whatever house we were in. They are super messy, but I love the way they smell. They remind me of my childhood.

In Texas, we had 17 foot ceilings in the living room. I found, much to my surprise, that a 17' Douglas fir was pretty cheap the week before Christmas.

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire . They are super messy, but I love the way they smell. They remind me of my childhood.

We got a 8 " Douglas Fir for $29.99 at Lowe's today . I also love the smell !

[REWahoo]

Christmas trees?!?! Dang, I thought this was a follow on to the pole dancing thread.....

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg We got a 8 " Douglas Fir for $29.99 at Lowe's today . I also love the smell !

Now fresh baked Christmas cookies and egg nog by the tree, while wrapping presents... ah, I have some great memories of those trees! I think they have the best scent of any Christmas tree.

[Meadbh]

I hate "fake" trees but I also hate to cut down a perfectly good tree. So I was ecstatic when I found a house that had two nice blue spruce trees in the front yard. One was 3' high, one 4'.

The 4' tree died the first year. For several years I put outdoor lights on the 3' tree......until even three sets of lights was not enough. Now it's 30' high. Decorating it would mean getting professional help. Not LBYM! And as a secular humanist/theravada buddhist/unitarian universalist/liberal quaker/neopagan*......how could I justify the damage to the planet?




*see Belief O Matic thread

[ladelfina]

never had a fake tree and never will.
The smell is key! Couldn't warm up to a sprig of chinese plastic.

These days we go without a tree. It's not really a tradition the Italians embrace. We put some lights inside along the fireplace mantel and outside on an olive tree that's a short ways from the livingroom window.. That's plenty for us these days; a little goes a long way.

[UncleHoney]

The usual stuffed tree for us this year. I like to keep the real ones growing and doing their part for the environment. Our first tree lasted for about 25 years, the current one is about 9 years old.

We always get a little carried away decorating the house for Christmas and the tree is up for about three weeks.

[Khan]

Never have put up a tree. I have snagged discarded ones for bird cover and (later) mulch and raised bed frames.

Some municipalities have programs where they will pick up live (balled-root) trees and plant them in the parks.

[jazz4cash]

When the kids were small and we needed landscaping, we bought balled and burlapped trees every year and planted them in the yard in January. In Indiana, they advise digging the hole before the ground freezes and 'storing' the dirt. We usually just put them on the unheated back porch till spring. Firs and spruce are more delicate, but one poor white pine was in shock for over a year before it started regrowing. Now we alternate depending on how we feel. I don't get the environmental concern as these are all grown specifically to be xmas trees and the county recycles the mulch.

[donheff]

I used to do real trees but they were a PITA. I bought a top end fake a few years back but it weighed a ton and was a hassle to put up so I gave it to my brother who has a McMansion and can keep the tree assembled in a spare room. Then DW started buying little goofy looking decorative trees made of tin, ceramics etc. Now we have a bunch of them and they are no hassle.

[tightasadrum]

I grew up with the annual trip to choose a cut tree. We started out with the same tradition for DD. After DD left for college DW canned the cut tree routine in favor of artificial. She said it was safer. New house has 10' ceilings, so DW wanted one that was larger to fit the ceilings. (She is really big into decorating for Christmas, I mean REALLY BIG!)

I was in Sam's club just before Christmas last year poking through their returned stuff looking for bargains. Wahlah! There it was. A 10' pre-lighted tree stuffed in a box. So I dragged it over to a wall receptacle and started tested it. I could only find one string of lights that were inop, too few to notice (This thing dims the lights at the power sub-station.) The return tag indicated more than two hundred dollars and a small amount that I assumed was tax or something. I got the manager over to beat down negotiate the final price.

"What's your lowest price on this beat up piece of junk tree here?" She said the price on that tag was as low as she could go, but she thought the price was fair. Turns out the number I thought was tax was THE PRICE! I tried not to act too surprise, but said I guess I'll take it. I think I paid around $20. This was even better for me because DW was going to pay full price for one anyway.

Sometimes it just works out. I still prefer the smell of a cut tree, so I just go to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up their discarded trimmings from the trees that all the poor saps paid full price for. I smile every time I look at that $20 tree.

[Sarah in SC]

We used to do trees, but now we don't bother since we live way out in the country.
Nice not to hassle with it, but I guess one day we'll restart the tradition, about the same time we start entertaining at the holidays again. When we lived at the beach, we always went to the choose and cut place and picked one out to saw down! For me a real tree is an eastern red cedar or leyland cypress.

Does anyone else find that just cleaning the house enough for company is so exhausting that you don't want to ask folks over for dinner? Lazy or something, I guess!
Maybe one day I'll let go of the frugality enough to get a maid service, but I'd have to find folks that can deal with 5 dogs milling around! Sigh.

[lets-retire]

We used to have a fake tree until my son arrived. Now we do the real trees, but as soon as he is out of school or doesn't really care about the tree we will go back to the fake one. Even if the one we buy costs $200.00 in a matter of three or four years we will have saved that much in the cost of real trees.