Christmas trees: Real or Artificial?

briscoe1031 · December 2014

Real for me. Every year until my parents divorced, we had a real tree. Then we still had them until a few years ago when my mom and former stepdad got an artificial tree. My dad gets a real tree every year. I love the smell of them. My H grew up on them too. Although his parents switched to artificial.

Right now we have an artificial tree. It was so hard to find a un-lit tree that was 5' or less... Once we have a house, real tree all the way.

jdluvr06 · December 2014

Artificial. H is allergic to real trees. H came home with a black tree today and Im like um... No.

manillabar · December 2014

I'm also in the artificial pre-lit camp! We've always had artificial trees, so I know no other life. I probably wouldn't be good at maintaining a real tree... I barely remember to water my aloe plant and I only do that once a week or so.

mrscomposer · December 2014

PREFER artificial? No. But we have a small house, so with some of our wedding money we bought a pre-lit space saver artificial tree that is shaped more like an oval than a circle, so it can snug up against walls better.

When we live in a bigger place we'll totally do real.

CMGragain · December 2014

For years, when my kids were young, we had real trees. I killed two vacuum cleaners on them. When I went back to work full time, I bought an artificial tree. It lasted 14 years. I just replaced it with one of the pre-lit ones. It is more narrow, and it fits better in my family room.
I was always disappointed that no one ever helped me put up the tree. My kids fought over the Big Bird and Cookie Monster ornament, and once those were on the tree, they lost interest, and I had to finish. Daughter now has those two ornaments.
My favorite ornament was from Hallmark, some years ago. It has the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz. When you press the button, you hear Margaret Hamilton's voice screaming, "I'm melting! Oh, what a world! What a world..." as the figure of the witch disappears into the floor. I don't know what that has to do with Christmas, but I also have Star Trek ornaments as well as N.A.S.A commemorative ornaments of the early space program.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A0LEV77BRpFUCzsAY7sPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsa3ZzMnBvBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--?p=Hallmark+ornament+Wizard+of+Oz+Melting&tnr=21&vid=57EA934668BFB3ABD45557EA934668BFB3ABD455&l=40&turl=http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=UN.608009370551845765&pid=15.1&rurl=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1clgwabmPM&sigr=11b9mejql&tt=b&tit=Im+Melting+Wizard+of+Oz&sigt=10n5bhlrl&back=https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=Hallmark+ornament+Wizard+of+Oz+Melting&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&sigb=13if36lvf&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

sassyfrass2014 · December 2014

I still live by myself, so I have an artificial tree. But FI and I love real trees, and we plan on getting one for our first married Christmas! I just love going out to a tree farm and picking one out that looks just right. I love going to cideries nearby and the whole vibe of chopping your own down!

beachyone15 · December 2014

We always had real trees growing up but since moving out, I've invested in an artificial tree. My parents also buy artificial now that my brother and I are out of the house. I think they are relieved that they don't have to mess with a real tree anymore (even though we all loved them).

There was one year that the damned thing FELL OVER (completely decorated). Water and glitter was everywhere! Although I'd still rather have that mess than SPIDERS!

ohannabelle · December 2014

The spider thing doesn't even deter me. Or I wouldn't buy flowers or fruit or anything farm grown. There might be a scorpion in the bananas, which I guess has happened. But I keep buying bananas.

It's possible, I guess, but in half a century I've never experienced such a thing, or ever spoken to anyone who has. Tree farmers use insecticides like any other crop. Maybe not the organic tree farms. Or maybe the Northwest isn't as spidery as other places.

If there were snakes in the trees, I might consider converting. But more likely I'd become a ruthless snake killer.

vmj23 · December 2014

Real ! Although as we (me and my brothers) got older, my parents switched over to fake which was fine with me. But for now I like the tradition of going to pick out a tree with my husband - the search for the biggest tree possible that will fit in our house. We never use our fireplace but once a year we light it and set up/decorate the tree and I look forward to the tradition of it. I do hate finding needles for months and months after Christmas! It seem's they never are fully gone!

sassyfrass2014 · December 2014

beachyone15 said:

We always had real trees growing up but since moving out, I've invested in an artificial tree. My parents also buy artificial now that my brother and I are out of the house. I think they are relieved that they don't have to mess with a real tree anymore (even though we all loved them).

There was one year that the damned thing FELL OVER (completely decorated). Water and glitter was everywhere! Although I'd still rather have that mess than SPIDERS!

One year the tree farm where we went to had gone out of business, so we had to go to a different one. The tree we got from that other farm dried out in two weeks despite constant watering. It was so dry that we were afraid to turn the lights on! So, one week to Christmas, we took all the ornaments and lights off and threw it out so we could go out and cut down a second tree. That one dried out in almost one week! That was the year my family switched to artificial, but all it says to me is that you need to really REALLY research your tree farm. There are so many scams out there where the trees are actually long-dead before you even cut them.

beethery · December 2014

ohannabelle said:

The spider thing doesn't even deter me. Or I wouldn't buy flowers or fruit or anything farm grown. There might be a scorpion in the bananas, which I guess has happened. But I keep buying bananas.
It's possible, I guess, but in half a century I've never experienced such a thing, or ever spoken to anyone who has. Tree farmers use insecticides like any other crop. Maybe not the organic tree farms. Or maybe the Northwest isn't as spidery as other places.
If there were snakes in the trees, I might consider converting. But more likely I'd become a ruthless snake killer.

We cut our own this year and last year, and my family has done that as well most years. Never had a spider problem.

ShellD13 · December 2014

@ohannabelle - I love that your village is set up at the base of your tree! Very pretty! My mom has a village collection but wouldn't trust it that low to the ground due to the newest batch of great grandbabies that will be at the house.

theartistformerlyknownas · December 2014

ohannabelle said:

The spider thing doesn't even deter me. Or I wouldn't buy flowers or fruit or anything farm grown. There might be a scorpion in the bananas, which I guess has happened. But I keep buying bananas.
It's possible, I guess, but in half a century I've never experienced such a thing, or ever spoken to anyone who has. Tree farmers use insecticides like any other crop. Maybe not the organic tree farms. Or maybe the Northwest isn't as spidery as other places.
If there were snakes in the trees, I might consider converting. But more likely I'd become a ruthless snake killer.

What about...

It's too cold in Michigan by Christmas tree time to be worried about spiders. They'd all be frozen.

KytchynWitche · December 2014

My personal choice is neither, 'cause I'm a grinch. But we have a teeny tiny little LCD tree to make DH happy. Trees belong outside.

hellosweetie1015 · December 2014

You know, I've had this thread on my mind all day, haha. I have no idea what FI's parents do for their tree - I assume artificial - but it's never been a discussion we had. I may have to sit him down and talk about our Christmas-tree plans.

When I was growing up, we had real trees almost every year, that slowly and slowly got bigger. I think the largest successful tree was 20', and we had to hang out of the loft and spin the tree to get the top decorated. My freshman year in college, though, our real tree was just too damn big - 22' tall and my dad, my brother, the guy who brought it (my uncle's wife's sister's husband, so ... a cousin of some sort), and my brother's baseball teammates couldn't even move the fucker off the trailer it came in. I can only assume the people who brought it to us backed the trailer up as close as they could and cut the tree so it fell onto it. I don't remember what we did that year for a tree - possibly decorated one of my mom's plants instead - but the next year my mom sent my then-BF and I to Lowe's like 3 days before Christmas to get a 12' prelit artificial she'd bought without telling my dad.

This year, we're using FI's artificial from his apartment. It's got colored lights (which, I've decided, I am less a fan of than I thought, at least unless we use all silver/white/gold ornaments that won't clash with the colors) but it's only six feet tall. I can reach the top of it flat footed. I'm happy we have it, but it makes me sad that we don't have our big tree any more.

@ohannabelle I now want a Christmas village. I never really wanted one before. Your tree is beautiful.

ohannabelle · December 2014

hellosweetie1015 said:

You know, I've had this thread on my mind all day, haha. I have no idea what FI's parents do for their tree - I assume artificial - but it's never been a discussion we had. I may have to sit him down and talk about our Christmas-tree plans.

When I was growing up, we had real trees almost every year, that slowly and slowly got bigger. I think the largest successful tree was 20', and we had to hang out of the loft and spin the tree to get the top decorated. My freshman year in college, though, our real tree was just too damn big - 22' tall and my dad, my brother, the guy who brought it (my uncle's wife's sister's husband, so ... a cousin of some sort), and my brother's baseball teammates couldn't even move the fucker off the trailer it came in. I can only assume the people who brought it to us backed the trailer up as close as they could and cut the tree so it fell onto it. I don't remember what we did that year for a tree - possibly decorated one of my mom's plants instead - but the next year my mom sent my then-BF and I to Lowe's like 3 days before Christmas to get a 12' prelit artificial she'd bought without telling my dad.

This year, we're using FI's artificial from his apartment. It's got colored lights (which, I've decided, I am less a fan of than I thought, at least unless we use all silver/white/gold ornaments that won't clash with the colors) but it's only six feet tall. I can reach the top of it flat footed. I'm happy we have it, but it makes me sad that we don't have our big tree any more.

@ohannabelle I now want a Christmas village. I never really wanted one before. Your tree is beautiful.

Thank you! Haha, that damned village! I try to skip it almost every year, because it's kind of cluttered, and light cord hiding in the snow, and batteries for street lights, and Moose always rebels. I thought this year, because he's 18, he'd be reasonable, but nope. I said, maybe no village this year and he sulked like a big giant baby until I said oh, FFS, Mary, I'll put up the damned village. (Aren't I just the nicest Mom.)

Kids seriously love it, though. If children are visiting, I always put the little people and trees in a box, and ask them to please arrange them for me. I need to find a place to rent children. That would be so fun.

(There will be NO TRAIN in the village, ever, no matter how many times Moose asks, or sends me links to cool noise making smoke stack puffing trains. I'll win that fight.)

Cookie Pusher · December 2014

We haven't had space to put up my Christmas village yet, but we do put a train around the tree every year. A big, remote controlled monstrosity with lights and sounds.

ohannabelle · December 2014

lolo883 said: ohannabelle said: The spider thing doesn't even deter me. Or I wouldn't buy flowers or fruit or anything farm grown. There might be a scorpion in the bananas, which I guess has happened. But I keep buying bananas.It's possible, I guess, but in half a century I've never experienced such a thing, or ever spoken to anyone who has. Tree farmers use insecticides like any other crop. Maybe not the organic tree farms. Or maybe the Northwest isn't as spidery as other places.If there were snakes in the trees, I might consider converting. But more likely I'd become a ruthless snake killer. What about...

It's too cold in Michigan by Christmas tree time to be worried about spiders. They'd all be frozen. SIB

I love that squirrel! Mine are all outside. Moose names them. Fatty and Greedy and Nutsy. They all look the same to me, except Greedy, who actually rattles the kitchen window when he wants nuts. Nutsy came in once. There was a ruckus until he found the open door. He actually ran right over the top of the cat. Good thing she's old. She didn't even move from her napping spot, just watched him run.

stefuhknee · December 2014

All of your trees are so beautiful! We really debated whether we would put up a tree this year because our toddler is a little hurricane but he's actually left the tree alone for the most part. I really wanted a real tree but they can be expensive and my SO ended up surprising me with an artificial one and I think it looks okay. We need some more lights though, we went with yellow ones this year.

photokitty · December 2014

Until I get a a bigger living room it's neither for us. I can't really vote for the 3 foot fake one we have currently.

hellosweetie1015 · December 2014

ohannabelle said:

hellosweetie1015 said:

You know, I've had this thread on my mind all day, haha. I have no idea what FI's parents do for their tree - I assume artificial - but it's never been a discussion we had. I may have to sit him down and talk about our Christmas-tree plans.

When I was growing up, we had real trees almost every year, that slowly and slowly got bigger. I think the largest successful tree was 20', and we had to hang out of the loft and spin the tree to get the top decorated. My freshman year in college, though, our real tree was just too damn big - 22' tall and my dad, my brother, the guy who brought it (my uncle's wife's sister's husband, so ... a cousin of some sort), and my brother's baseball teammates couldn't even move the fucker off the trailer it came in. I can only assume the people who brought it to us backed the trailer up as close as they could and cut the tree so it fell onto it. I don't remember what we did that year for a tree - possibly decorated one of my mom's plants instead - but the next year my mom sent my then-BF and I to Lowe's like 3 days before Christmas to get a 12' prelit artificial she'd bought without telling my dad.

This year, we're using FI's artificial from his apartment. It's got colored lights (which, I've decided, I am less a fan of than I thought, at least unless we use all silver/white/gold ornaments that won't clash with the colors) but it's only six feet tall. I can reach the top of it flat footed. I'm happy we have it, but it makes me sad that we don't have our big tree any more.

@ohannabelle I now want a Christmas village. I never really wanted one before. Your tree is beautiful.

Thank you! Haha, that damned village! I try to skip it almost every year, because it's kind of cluttered, and light cord hiding in the snow, and batteries for street lights, and Moose always rebels. I thought this year, because he's 18, he'd be reasonable, but nope. I said, maybe no village this year and he sulked like a big giant baby until I said oh, FFS, Mary, I'll put up the damned village. (Aren't I just the nicest Mom.)

Kids seriously love it, though. If children are visiting, I always put the little people and trees in a box, and ask them to please arrange them for me. I need to find a place to rent children. That would be so fun.

(There will be NO TRAIN in the village, ever, no matter how many times Moose asks, or sends me links to cool noise making smoke stack puffing trains. I'll win that fight.)

I would lose that fight.... mainly because I'm down with sticking a train in there hahahaha.

I just really want one. Our tree looked so bare underneath until we got some presents under there. We usually don't have presents under the tree before Christmas day, but this is the first year we had a tree skirt, instead of one of my great-grandmother's hand-patched quilts, so it looked sad and boring for the first time ever.

If I could patchwork I might make my mom a new tree skirt for Christmas next year. Maybe that will be a thing I do for 2015, while I work and plan a wedding and alllll that other shit I wanna do, hahahahahahahahaahahahahdfh ;alshdf;ahdfajk

Christmas trees: Real or Artificial?

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