Poll: Your Christmas tree this year

[jollystomper]

Until the kids started moving out of the house, we had natural trees. There are several tree farms within 10 miles of our home, so getting the tree was an exciting family adventure (bear in my DW and I are city folks, so that made it exciting ). Wandering through the fields, locating a tree, cutting it (or sometimes 2) down, and hauling it (them) back to the car - with stops for hot chocolate and other snacks available - was great fun. At the end of the season, we could bring it back and have it mulched at no extra cost.

But, we migrated to a 7 foot green artificial tree about 15 years ago as it become more difficult to get the family together for a real tree. We bought one after Christmas at 75% off, and it has lasted very well. I take care unpacking and repacking it, and it has held up. I just finished putting it up, along with the lights and garland. DW will add the ornaments over the next several days.

The tree goes in our living room. A few years ago I got a table top 4 foot LED tree for the family room. All the "leaves" had small LEDs at the end that change color.

In January, when it was marked down 90% I bought another artificial tree, this one white, modular, with built-in lights. We have not yet unboxed it yet. It will either end up in the family room or in our finished basement.

 

[aja8888]

DW was always in charge of Christmas with the tree, house decorations, dinner with the family attending, etc. She was real good at it. Now that she is no longer here, no tree, no decorations......etc.

 

[tulak]

I bought a 6-7' noble fir for $95 this year. At some point I'll get a smaller tree, but I've been saying that the last few years.

 

[REWahoo]

Maybe this should go in the BTD or Inflation Example thread.

While shopping at HEB today and walking through the live Christmas tree display, we saw a beautiful 12 foot noble fir with a $600 price tag.

DW and I agreed we should wait for the after Christmas sale to see if we could get it for half price.

 

[pb4uski]

When the kids were young and we were living in Vermont year round we always got a real tree and it was quite a production. Bundle up the kids and get the kids, sleds, saw and tape measure in the minivan. Drive to the tree farm. Tromp around the farm to find the right 11' tree. Cut it and then drag both the tree and kids back to the minivan. Pay the man and tie the tree to the roof rack. Drive home and leave the tree in the garage for a couple days and then cut a little off the bottom and drag it up to the deck and into the house and set it up. The wire it to the wall so it would not fall over and decorate it.

While it was a nice tradition, I'm fine with our artificial 7' tree with lights already on it.

PS: the ceiling of that house did have a minor gouge in the ceiling where I mismeasured one year.

 

[youbet]

Real deal here... $85 w/tax

+1

Similar here. Even though the grand-youngin's (youngest 18) are well past the age of Santa, etc., we still like to present Papa and Grandma as keepers of the traditional past. So, a real tree, decorations. traditional dinner and a fire in the wood stove are still part of our Christmas gathering.

We sincerely hope everyone follows their own traditions according to their own wishes and enjoys some sort of respite from the drama of today's world.

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

[DrRoy]

Have had the same artificial tree for nearly 40 years.

 

[donheff]

I went with tabletop fake, although our wouldn't really fit on a table, it's about six feet tall but very narrow. Decades ago, we would get large real trees. Our ceilings are ten feet so the trees need to be tall to look good. But then we had to move furniture around to fit it in the living room. We eventually bought a high-end artificial tree, but it weighed a ton and was a PITA to store so I outsourced it to my brother's big suburban house. We bought a cheap fake tree the next year, almost as a joke. It's small and narrow and fits without moving any furniture so, what the heck, we have kept it for 20 years.

 

[folivier]

Back in college a girlfriend made me get a semi-live tree while we were on a date on Christmas Eve. Since them we've always had a real tree until DMIL passed in 2021. DW inherited her artificial tree. Haven't set it up yet since we're still unboxing from our move. We did make a place for it and will probably put it up this weekend.
But Christmas as other holidays aren't the same as when we were much younger. Family doesn't visit like they used to. I have great memories of all my cousins at my grandpaw's big house for Christmas. Now we're lucky to have them come over for a meal and open presents.

 

[sengsational]

Wanted to go with the Festivus Pole this year, but DW bought a pre-lit narrow fake to replace the 30 year old fake I curb alerted last year.

 

[sparky08]

For $10, we can get a permit to cut one in the National Forest. There's rules about diameter, height, kind (no Blue Spruce). And they urge you to thin (take a tree from a clump).

So, as long as I'm able, my dog and I will drive up into the mountains, cut, and haul back a 'Charlie Brown Tree'.

We're lucky to have double doors on our patio to get it in/out easily.

 

[old medic]

We have always had a real tree, went out wandering the woods and cut it down. Have several where we got a potted tree and planted it cut it down to use it again. There is still one on this property from when we lived here before. But since selling the house and moving into a camper, no tree. Talked about putting one up in the house this year, but it would just be in the way of finishing work. But did put lights up on the house.

 

[Sunset]

Ours is artificial, decades old, I store it assembled in the basement covered so it doesn't get dusty. It's the old stick the branches in the holes type, so keeping it assembled solves a lot of the effort.

Long time ago, I bought my Mom a real tree in a pot for her apt. It was a dwarf Alberta Spruce.
She loved it and kept it alive after Christmas so that in the Spring she planted it outside on the Condo property to join the other trees.

 

[EastWest Gal]

My parents bought their first artificial tree when I was a teenager. I think that was the only one they ever had. They put up the tree every year and sis and I decorated while enjoying hot chocolate.

DH and I have never had a real tree. We started putting up a tree when we bought our house. We're on our second and probably final one. Pre-lit with LEDs. We have both ceramic and paper maché ornaments, as well as a smattering of other ones. It's on a timer, the same timer as our inherited set of porcelain Dickens houses. Last year we left the houses up until February, because they give off a nice light in the winter.

One year we tried no presents and it felt weird, so we decided to just get one present each.

 

[rk911]

Same 5' artificial tree we've had for 30+ years. If I had my way it'd go up on 12/24 and come down on 12/26.

 

[Pointby2]

We bought three Monterey Pine seedlings from the local Christmas tree farm about ten years ago. Planted them on our side hill. This year we harvested the last one. It's about fourteen feet tall and definitely a Charlie Brown tree.

 

[pacergal]

Always had real trees growing up and then when married. Often went to the national forest to cut one.
About 20 years ago, switched to artificial due to allergies. Dr advised it after several years of winter flare ups and pneumonia.
We get a new tree about every 5-7 years, the old ones get too dusty, even after DH blows the off before bringing them in.

Current one is 5 feet tall. Normally on the ground, as I have a 1 foot hand blown glass topper, and we barely have 7 ft ceiling in this old house. But this year, will be on a large table due to puppy and needing to keep his little paws and mouth off of it!!
Haven't gotten it up yet, tree is on the plan for this weekend, when DGS age 8 can help decorate.

 

[Trailwalker]

We always make a "date day" of cutting down our Christmas tree and going out for a drink or dinner. Today, we will be in search of a white pine and then go to a new Mexican restaurant near the Christmas tree farm.

 

[Toast]

We have a 7 1/2 foot artificial tree with LED lights that we can set with multiple functions such as all warm clear, multicolored, and a few other combinations. We love it! It, along with all of our other decorations, go up immediately after Thanksgiving. Everything comes down on New Year’s Day.

Tree decorating tip for people who like that sort of thing: Hobby Lobby has a video posted on YouTube demonstrating how to add ribbon to your tree. So easy and breathtakingly beautiful!

 

[GalaxyBoy]

So, DW and I went out for our annual tree shopping, usually one of our most enjoyable activities of the season. It’s December 7, and wow! is everything picked over! One place told us they were mostly sold out by Black Friday. One of the places that’s been a reliable spot over the years had prices that were 50% more than the competition and the choices were miserable. Many trees had cracked and split trunks, something I’d never seen before. We finally got a half decent one at Lowe’s. Would have rather patronized the small local business, but grrrrr…

Next year we finally get the fake tree.

 

[Qs Laptop]

So, DW and I went out for our annual tree shopping, usually one of our most enjoyable activities of the season. It’s December 7, and wow! is everything picked over! One place told us they were mostly sold out by Black Friday. One of the places that’s been a reliable spot over the years had prices that were 50% more than the competition and the choices were miserable. Many trees had cracked and split trunks, something I’d never seen before. We finally got a half decent one at Lowe’s. Would have rather patronized the small local business, but grrrrr…

Next year we finally get the fake tree.

My DW and I had the same experience yesterday. She was panicking because "it's getting so late in December, we always get our trees before now." Whereupon I go back through my photo app on my phone and show her we've almost always done it the first week in December, sometimes later.

But, yeah, slim pickings out there. Went to a nearby Home Cheapo, had a lot of dwarf trees, maybe 4 feet high. And the prices!! Crazy! Went to a Lowe's near the Home Depot and same story. Then we drove to another Home Depot about 10 miles away and they had a decent selection.

We got a 6 1/2 foot tall balsam pine that cost $59.95 plus tax. This is for a product we will "use" for a month and then throw away. I dare anyone to find another such product that costs this much that you literally throw away. (Lawn fertilizer doesn't count.)

 

[Badger]

If we had a place to store an artificial tree I might be tempted. However, most of what I see are made with branches with twisted wire with the foliage cut square at the ends. Not what I would want. I have seen a limited number of companies that have branches that actually look like real needles on a Blue Spruce but they are few and far between. If they were reasonably priced (not $200) I might get a 5 foot tree.

Cheers!

 

[Car-Guy]

We have mostly very tall pine and red oak trees growing on the property but I noticed we also had several fir trees growing back in the wooded areas. The DW had even commented once they looked like Christmas trees. They were all too tall (15+ ft) but I was able to cut off the top ~7 feet and they made great indoor Christmas trees. That worked for several years until we ran out of firs. Now I buy the same thing from Lowes or Home Depot.

 

[REWahoo]

We have mostly very tall pine and red oak trees growing on the property but I noticed we also had several fir trees growing back in the wooded areas. The DW had even commented once they looked like Christmas trees. They were all too tall (15+ ft) but I was able to cut off the top ~7 feet and they made great indoor Christmas trees. That worked for several years until we ran out of firs. Now I buy the same thing from Lowes or Home Depot.

Fir trees aren't native to your neck of the woods so they must have been planted. Someone who owned the property in the past try to start a Christmas tree farm?

 

[Car-Guy]

^^^^^
True... I don't know for sure but they were all pretty close together so maybe the previous owner did plant them for Christmas trees. There were only 6 or 7 of them all about the same height. They are all still there but I cut the tops out of several of them that were suitable for Christmas trees. Haven't been back there in a while so I'll check to see how they are doing these days.