Real, Artificial or No Christmas Tree?

[gbstack]

Will you have a real, artificial or no Christmas tree this year?



I tried to go with an artificial tree last year but the wife did not like the idea – It now lives in the basement. Time to go shopping for a real tree.

 

[sheehs1]

Artificial for about 20 years here. My daughter would get sick every Christmas from allergies. Once we got the artificial one she never got sick at Christmas.

Edit: I thought I would hate the artificial tree but honestly, I like the convenience. Besides...it looks close enough like a real one once decorated...or perhaps I have simply gotten used to it. It even drops it's needles now LOL!
It may be time for a new one.

 

[MuirWannabe]

We go to a family farm outside town and cut our tree down. It's a fun tradition. I love the smell of a real tree

 

[Meadbh]

No tree. I live in a condo and our bylaws forbid real trees due to the fire risk. I hate tackiness and artificiality and detest plastic trees. I have never had a real Christmas tree indoors even when I lived in a house, because I couldn't justify cutting down a tree just to decorate my living room for 2-3 weeks. When I first moved into my house over two decades ago, I draped lights over the "baby" blue spruce tree growing in the front yard. That was beautiful, and both I and the neighbours could enjoy it, but the tree grew so fast that within a few years it would have required many sets of lights and tall ladders.

 

[audreyh1]

No Christmas tree, no decorations, no nothing. We're really lazy about holiday traditions.

 

[Dreamer]

We have used both over the years. We use an artificial tree most of the time. We bought an expensive one that really looked wonderful and there were some people that thought it was a "real" one when we first bought it. It was large and very full and took up quite a bit of room. We bought another one a couple of years ago. We did not spend a lot of money. No one would ever mistake it for a "real" one. It is much smaller and it suits our purpose. I won't say that we will never have another live tree, but I think that we are pretty much over the mess of a live tree.

 

[timo2]

Some of the artificial trees these days are quite realistic, without the fire hazard. We are on our third fake tree, and they just get better looking. The old ones go on freecycle.org

 

[jollystomper]

Artificial - I prefer real trees and with a tree farm less than a mile from us it was fun going there with the family to run around and pick out a tree and haul it back. But with an empty nest and no one getting in before a few days before Christmas, it will be easier for DW and I to put up and maintain an artificial tree. We will still go to the farm to get fresh wreaths and have that nice pine smell in the house.

 

[pb4uski]

At our first house we actually had a real LIVE tree, root ball and all, probably ~5' or so and then we planted it after the holidays were over. We did that for a couple years.

Later, when the kids were young we had a 11'+ cathedral ceiling in the great room and usually have a big real tree (10' +). It was an outing to tromp around the local Christmas tree farm, cut the tree, drag it back to the parking lot, lash it to the top of the mini-van, etc. The kids loved the big tree with all the lights. A couple years, I actually tied it to the wall so it wouldn't fall over.

As the kids grew older the trees grew smaller. Last year I had to convince DW to have a 8' real tree. No tree so far, may just make due with the 3' fake one we have up now that we are empty nesters. Bah humbug.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Real. And outside a balsam garland around the railing of our wraparound porch, which DH buys from the boy scouts every year and decorates with white lights.

 

[W2R]

No tree at all for either of us, and no decorations.

We do like to drive around and look at the Christmas lights.

 

[Nodak]

No Christmas tree, no decorations, no nothing. We're really lazy about holiday traditions.

+1 I'll spend Christmas at relatives. They have enough decorations for several households.

 

[Bigal50]

DW grows trees for a living. No fake trees here. We go to a nearby tree farm most years and cut one. This year we have a small Norfolk Island Pine, which I think is destined to be a house plant.

 

[jazz4cash]

At our first house we actually had a real LIVE tree, root ball and all, probably ~5' or so and then we planted it after the holidays were over. We did that for a couple years.

.

+1
We did this for about 5 yrs when we lived in Indy. We needed the trees for a windbreak on our lot, anyway. They told us to dig the hole before the ground froze and drop the rootball in the hole and use a heavy layer of mulch around it until it warmed up enough to plant it properly....but we just stuck the balled tree on our unheated porch until spring. One of the trees stayed dormant for over a year before it started growing. Other than that one close call, all the other trees thrived, but they were hard to keep watered when they were in the house.

We usually have two trees and at least one of them will be live. DW loves to decorate xmas trees.

 

[traineeinvestor]

Artificial one for us. The cost was lower than a real one and we've had several years of use out of it.

 

[RunningBum]

Artificial. I usually travel over the holidays and don't want a tree drying out and being a fire hazard while I'm gone. I used to have a realistic looking one, but gave it away when I moved and replaced it with one with fiber optic lighting.

 

[Badger]

I would really like a tree but haven't had one in many years. The cats would like one too and that's the reason we go without.

Cheers!

 

[Jack_Pine]

Artificial, We decorate a lot and have to start early. Real tree would no lsat.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Artificial.

 

[Walt34]

Artificial, and a small one at that. We just wearied of the mess and then disposal in January.

 

[Ronstar]

Artificial. Just went through the multi-day tree and decoration installation without much of a hitch, but it does seem like its becoming too much work

 

[Midpack]

Artificial about 4 ft tall, the nicest, most natural looking one we could find. Stays decorated and lives in the basement covered by a sheet between New Years and Thanksgiving. I bring it up, plug it in, and DW straightens the ornaments and garlands and puts the angel on top. Takes about 5 minutes - instant Christmas. The ornaments all have special meaning to us, we don't have any 'generic' ornaments.

We used to many years ago but we can't bring ourselves to cut down a tree just to decorate for 3-4 weeks, though I love the smell too. We had a big artificial tree for about 10 years, but it was a PITA and we gave it away about 5 years ago.

 

[KM]

We had real until DD last Xmas at home (2008). Now we leave the day after Xmas to go to visit her in VA - so we don't bother putting anything up anymore. DS isn't a big fan of Xmas, so he is just as happy to not have one up.

We do have a small one outside that we put lights on every year, though.

 

[frayne]

No Christmas tree, no decorations, no nothing. We're really lazy about holiday traditions.

+1

 

[jetpack]

I keep an artificial one fully decorated. Goes up in about one minute. If I'm having a big event, like last year, I'll get a real one. It was like 10' tall last year!