Christmas trees: Real or Artificial?

paperpusher

Do you go out and select a real tree for Christmas or prefer artificial?

sarawifenow

I voted for real, although we do have a fake, pre-lit tree. That is what we have up now. We just don't have th room in our apartment for a real tree that we would need to take out once Christmas is over.

Jells2dot0

I'm allergic to real trees

paperpusher

I do artificial.
I've heard horror stories of spiders hiding in real trees and when you bring them inside and everything gets warmed up the eggs hatch and come out of the trees. ICK
Here's a picture of mine this year

theycallmelinz

We have an artificial tree because FI is allergic to real ones

 

However, our artificial tree is pre-lit so that does take a HUGE hassle out of decorating.

daria24

We always have a real tree. We don't have any room to store a fake one anyway. We've never had any issue with anything funky.

larrygaga

Between my allergies and not wanting to clean up pine needle bullshit, I choose real. It made FI a little sad because he always had a real tree, but once he saw how much more convenient fake trees are, he was on board. 

Pine trees are really ugly. It's all we have where I'm from, so I'm sick of them. I do love christmas trees!

luckya23

I like the convenience of a fake tree.  I have a pre-lit one, but then I put another 2000 lights on it.  I may have overdone it this year though - we keep blowing fuses!

 

chibiyui

Artificial is just so much easier. and cheaper.

emmaaa

We have a real tree. My family always had a fake tree growing up and FI's always had a real one. I liked the real one at FI's so much and now I insist on it every year.

labro

I'm sad that artificial is winning as of this response! Real trees are the best! We've always had the tradition of going and picking out a fresh tree every year and bringing it home. The mess is part of the fun for us. I've never heard of spider eggs coming out and hatching...that kind of sounds like an urban legend to me.

We have a small artificial tree that H's mom gave him when he started living on his own after college. We're using it this year instead of our regular real tree because we'll be gone for Christmas and don't want the tree to run out of water while we are gone. This is our tree from last year though!

climbingsingle

I do fake trees now. It's just so much easier. 

amelisha

Artificial. I'm too clean-freak to deal with the tree mess. And too lazy to deal with a real one too. Pre-lit, out of the box in five minutes, way more my style.

kat1114

I love the real thing, but we didn't have a tree last year and sadly we aren't getting one this year either.

VulgarGirl

I'd like a real tree. But I don't want to you know...take care of it, clean up the needles, ect, ect. 

So we do fake. 

cupcait927

H refuses to ever have an artificial tree. He grew up going to the tree farm with his family and cutting down their own tree and LOVES the tradition. When he was in high school, his mom got a fake tree one year so that she didn't have to deal with the mess and hassle of a real tree. Well H and his sister freaked out and bitched about it so much that until two years ago, they kept getting real trees. Not gonna lie, I would love the convenience of an artificial, pre-lit tree but H asks for so little around the house so real tree it is!

 

He also prefers colored lights over white but promised that next year we can do white lights on the tree because I cannot do the colored lights for another year.

plainjane0415

We have a fake tree, we hosted a historic home on a tour of homes this weekend, and it had a real tree.  A Cedar tree because that was "period appropriate".  Let me tell you Cedar trees are the devil.  They have super prickly branches and are very wispy.  So, they are hard to decorate.  I would like to try getting a real Fir tree one year, but I'm with @MagicInk, I don't know how good I will be at taking care of it haha.

My vote (for now) is for an artificial tree.

flyingfoxes

Artificial.  We don't want to deal with the hassle and mess of a real tree, plus our cats are assholes and would probably be climbing a real one 24/7.  As it is, one cat keeps licking the bottom portion of the fake tree. 

We got a new fake tree this year, pre-lit with LED lights that are both white and color (it can be either color or white, or flashes alternating between the 2), and has a remote control!  It's awesome. 

southernbelle0915

I LOVE real trees. But I'm allergic.

I'm in the market for a really nice artificial tree but haven't been able to find one that doesn't look fake or cheap.. The search continues.

climbingsingle

scribe95 said:

Isn't it weird how much our childhood family traditions impact us? I remember the first three years out of college I did my tree that same way we did - big colored lights; tinsel. Then it hit me. I actually like white lights. And the tinsel could kill my cat. So I decorate the way I want now (as opposed to my Dad).

But getting the tree and decorating as a family will always remain an important part of the holiday. And I'm even allergic to the tree!

so true! My dad always cut down our Xmas tree, and we usually went with him. We had the big colored lights too. And I did that for a few years - real tree, big lights. And I then realized the same as you - I like white lights much better. And a fake tree is much cleaner. 

littlemushroom

@southernbelle0915‌ My parents got a new fake tree this year that has 3 different fir tree branches and little brown pinecone clusters all over it. I am told this makes the tree more "real" looking. Maybe you can find one like that?

ETA: I don't post that often, so let me clarify the above is totally sarcasm.

maeday2

There aren't many tree farms (at all) in south Louisiana and by the time they get down there they are past their prime. So, growing up we always had an artificial tree. 

Once my family moved to NE Tennessee, we began going to local tree farms and cutting our own tree down. Like some of y'all have said, the tradition of it is what makes it special. 

I do prefer artificial for the sake of ease and that they will actually hold heavy ornaments, but I think real trees have a more special feel to them. Maybe I'm just a big nostalgic sap. Probably so. 

ShellD13

Growing up my parents always had a real tree and I loved it!  However when I was on my own before H, I spent so much of my holiday away from my own home and at my parents the thought of a live tree was just a huge hassle (I won't be home to make sure it gets enough water, pine needles everywhere, etc).  Not to mention that I found out I am allergic to just about everything under the sun - I opted for Artificial.  Now it is primarily allergies and the pets that dictate a fake tree - if we had a live tree I'm fairly certain I'd be fishing my cat out of it on a daily basis.

beethery

The cats stay out of the real tree for some reason. The fake tree was their jungle gym and they bent all the wires to the point where even the Peanuts gang with every decoration in town couldn't make it look right.

afox007

We have always gone the day after thanksgiving and cut down our tree. My first Christmas with FI as FSS we went to the store the day before thanksgiving so I could get ornaments. They suggested we just buy a fake prelit tree while we were there and I had a full blown 5 year old temper tantrum in the store. FSS did not make things better by throwing in "my mom thinks real trees are stupid".

emmaaa

beethery said:

The cats stay out of the real tree for some reason. The fake tree was their jungle gym and they bent all the wires to the point where even the Peanuts gang with every decoration in town couldn't make it look right.

I think it is also the stickiness of the real trees that keep my cat out.

Jstump2

We got a real tree this year! I think we started a tradition. We found a nearby tree lot that is $25 no matter what tree/how big. We brought are Pup, chopped down our own tree and dragged it back to the truck. It was fun and I like the uniqueness of picking a different one every year

[Deleted User]

I grew up with artificial trees, my fiance with real ones.  We are buying real ones from here on out as we do not have a place to store a tree for the other 11 months of the year. 

Ours is a fir (Douglas, specifically, I think) so the needles are short, not sharp, and I've had my tree up since the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it hasn't dropped one needle yet!

[Deleted User]

cupcait927 said:

H refuses to ever have an artificial tree. He grew up going to the tree farm with his family and cutting down their own tree and LOVES the tradition. When he was in high school, his mom got a fake tree one year so that she didn't have to deal with the mess and hassle of a real tree. Well H and his sister freaked out and bitched about it so much that until two years ago, they kept getting real trees. Not gonna lie, I would love the convenience of an artificial, pre-lit tree but H asks for so little around the house so real tree it is!

 

He also prefers colored lights over white but promised that next year we can do white lights on the tree because I cannot do the colored lights for another year.

My fiance and I are going to take turns with the lights too.  He said I could go first, so this year we have white lights.  Next year, he will buy colored lights he likes.

I grew up with colored lights, always, but found I just like the white ones better; I think the ornaments get lost less when they're not competing with colored lights- and ornaments are my favorite part of the tree.

We got a small 4' tree this year and had to leave about 70 of our ornaments off of it b/c there was simply no more room...

ohannabelle

Real real real. And fresh. 

Because the smell! That smell is serious holiday aromatherapy. And I dislike artificial trees the same way I dislike artificial flowers.

If you're losing needles to the point that it's a nuisance, your tree isn't fresh enough. 

If you hose them down thoroughly first, you wash the dust and pollen off, which works beautifully for dust and pollen allergies. If you're actually allergic to tree, you're out of luck. 

Never had spiders, and never heard of anybody who did. I did find a sweet little bird nest one year, which is supposed to be good luck, but I did not win the lottery.

Tree farms are good for the environment, and good for farmers, and good for the economy, and good for me. 

beethery

ohannabelle said:

Real real real. And fresh. 

Because the smell! That smell is serious holiday aromatherapy. And I dislike artificial trees the same way I dislike artificial flowers.

If you're losing needles to the point that it's a nuisance, your tree isn't fresh enough. 

If you hose them down thoroughly first, you wash the dust and pollen off, which works beautifully for dust and pollen allergies. If you're actually allergic to tree, you're out of luck. 

Never had spiders, and never heard of anybody who did. I did find a sweet little bird nest one year, which is supposed to be good luck, but I did not win the lottery.

Tree farms are good for the environment, and good for farmers, and good for the economy, and good for me. 

My tree doesn't smell unless you shove your face into it. It makes me sad.