OT: Keeping it real...or not?

[William]

Just wondering how many folks who celebrate Christmas still go with a real tree vs. going with an artificial tree?

We grew up with real trees and I even worked on a friends tree farm when I was a teen so it just seemed the natural choice (see what I did there :) ). My grandparents has an artificial tree back in the day and it wasn't a very convincing example though now days they seem to be pretty realistic looking.


What do you do?





William

[hokoman]

I had a Balsam Hill tree for a couple years. Pretty amazing if you spend the time to feather out all the branches. Don't know if I could stomach the cost for another one though. My wife is pushing me to get a small tree this year. We'll see where that ends up!

[cp43]

I don't put up a tree.

My parents go for a real one though. If I do ever end up putting up a tree, it will probably be a real one.

When I was a kid, part of the family Christmas tradition was driving around for most of a Saturday to find and cut down the right tree. You miss out of all that fun, and mud, if you go for an artificial one :)

Chris

[gasman]

I live in Oregon- we do real trees dammit.

[Elefantino]

We lived in Florida and used to buy trees from North Carolina.

Now we live in North Carolina and use an artificial tree that we bought in ... Florida.

:confused:

[oldpotatoe]

Best is real tree, potted, alive then plant it. Shame to kill a tree...

[zmudshark]

Best is real tree, potted, alive then plant it. Shame to kill a tree...
^^^This if you have a tree, and can move a live tree.

I am a retired UPS driver. Christmas is not my favorite holiday. No tree for me.

[Matthew]

As a kid we used a real tree. Got married, we used an artificial tree. Now we don't put up a tree at all. And very few decorations to be honest. Still enjoy the holiday but so few family members left there is no big celebration. Did just plant ten pine trees in the backyard this fall though.

[Don49]

No tree here, just a Festivus pole.

[Joxster]

Always a real tree, plastic trees are so trailer park these days

[lucieli]

Our local HS orchestra sells trees every year for a fundraiser. Super nice trees from Canada, not too expensive and supports a great cause. We buy from them every year before they sell out.

Have a safe, healthy and happy holiday season folks!

[Jaybee]

Best is real tree, potted, alive then plant it. Shame to kill a tree...

Did this for years when I was a kid. There's a nice row of 20 something pine trees outside my parents old house (which has since been razed, but whatever).

I didn't do a tree for years, started again when I had kids. Been using the same Target lights-included artificial tree for 6 years now, and it still looks great.

[Ozz]

Our local HS orchestra sells trees every year for a fundraiser. Super nice trees from Canada, not too expensive and supports a great cause. We buy from them every year before they sell out.

Have a safe, healthy and happy holiday season folks!
We buy real tree from local nursery a couple blocks away.....then "donate to" the local Scout troop to pick up the tree and recycle it after New Year.

[alancw3]

always opted for a real tree until last christmas. after seventy years finally opted for artificial tree. doesn't have the smell but damned if i can really tell it is fake. cleanup so much easier. don't miss all those needles everywhere. up front cost is way more but should last for many years. should have done this twenty years ago.

[Clean39T]

First year my wife and I are "home" for the holidays - and will be our first year with a real tree - just a little one - 3-ft. or so..

We've been 13 years with...a Fake Plastic Tree (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5h0qHwNrHk).

A festivus pole would be more in line with our general orientation to the season - alas, memories and traditions and what feels right is hard to get around even if you want to.

[R3awak3n]

Real tree here. Last year we went and cut it ourselves, that was kinda fun.

[Ozz]

...A festivus pole would be more in line with our general orientation to the season - alas, memories and traditions and what feels right is hard to get around even if you want to.

peace on earth and goodwill towards all.....pretty much sums it up for me.

Great memories from childhood of family gatherings (40-60 people usually)....mostly getting along, but enough people that if you didn't like one conversation you could move to another room!

[AngryScientist]

going to cut down a real tree and stopping for a big hot breakfast on the way home is just part of the tradition.

throwing branches of said real tree in the fire pit while making smores and drinking after christmas is another critical part of the tradition.

[Hilltopperny]

I have used both. The artificial now resides in our bedroom and the real tree will go in the dining room.

I grew up with real trees and definitely prefer them to the even a good fake. The smell brings me back and I don't really mind the clean up.

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[XXtwindad]

Hanukkah bushes are so much more environmentally friendly :)

[Blue Jays]

Both will be in my home.
One small real tree and (even smaller) tabletop artificial trees planned.

[unterhausen]

a number of years ago now, we brought home a tree and my wife started decorating it. She had to stop because she developed hives and her eyes were swelling shut. So I moved the tree out on to the front porch, where it stayed for the rest of the Christmas season. So now we have an artificial tree. I always hated the idea of an artificial tree, but then I realized what a pain it was to go get a real tree and decided to get over it.

[gomango]

Best is real tree, potted, alive then plant it. Shame to kill a tree...

Yes!!

We plant 15-20 white pines annually on our land near the BWCA.

We started this thirty years ago and many are starting to look substantial.

[witcombusa]

Best is real tree, potted, alive then plant it. Shame to kill a tree...

Or just plant one outside a picture window. Add lights for the holiday and enjoy watching the tree get bigger each year along with the children!

[RocketPockets]

real tree here as well :cool:

[chuckroast]

We've been empty nesters for quite a while and have a house full of mid century furniture. A few years ago we found a vintage shiny aluminum Charley Brown tree with color wheel at an antique store and had to buy it.

When the kids were young though we would go to a tree farm and cut a live one.

[Toddtwenty2]

Real tree- they smell better!

[froze]

For about 30 years my wife and I always got a real tree, but as time went on we got sick and tired of all the hassles associated with it, not to mention the potential fire hazard. So for the last 6 years we've had an artificial tree, one of those kind that actually look real and not like a cone, or all white etc weird stuff on the market, and we actually prefer the artificial tree.

One thing we did learn about artificial trees is NOT to buy the pre strung with lights trees; what we found out that when a bulb dies you can't find the replacement size and plug style. So after quite a few of our bulbs died I spend the good part of a day a couple of years ago untying and cutting the lines out, now we just string the tree with lights, and we can change the light from color to all white anytime we feel a need for a change.

We bought a $800 artificial tree...but we got it on a after Christmas sale and only paid $199. It looks very real, guests over the years have always thought it was real till I tell them to get up close and look at the main branch and the branches themselves, no artificial tree I've seen yet has been able to duplicate the look of real tree bark. What's weird with our tree is that the longer we own it the more real it looks as it gets a bit of use on it from being used, then boxed away year after year. We've already saved the cost of buying the fake tree from the lack of a yearly cost of a real tree.

The only issue with fake trees is that I can't find real smelling pine scent to add to the effect. I thought about getting a real tree that's real small with a high fragrance to it and put it in another room and then the house would have the pine smell, but not sure if a small one would have enough scent.

[Hindmost]

No tree natural or artificial. But I did go by the tree lot and ask for some of the cut off branches to bring home and to make into ornament and greenery decorations. They smell good.

[Ken Robb]

We have a nice fake that looks real and its lights are LED so I don't expect to replace any in my lifetime. Maybe that's wishful thinking? The first year we had it I collected some cut-off branches from a tree lot for smell. It worked fine for 1-2 days but the smell left with the moisture in the branches. I have some incense and burner left over from what I refer to as "my period between wives". I like the smell but Les has asthma so I guess we will just have to imagine a rich piney aroma.

[AngryScientist]

speaking of LED lights, they sure have made decorating a lot less of a fire hazard.

not like these old guys that would get smokin hot, break and ignite your old dry tree and lace curtains!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZtKYr4KzqfE/TPb2OHOCI5I/AAAAAAAAAk4/-lu6wj2T9M4/s1600/IMGP9869.jpg

[Clean39T]

We have a nice fake that looks real and its lights are LED so I don't expect to replace any in my lifetime. Maybe that's wishful thinking? The first year we had it I collected some cut-off branches from a tree lot for smell. It worked fine for 1-2 days but the smell left with the moisture in the branches. I have some incense and burner left over from what I refer to as "my period between wives". I like the smell but Les has asthma so I guess we will just have to imagine a rich piney aroma.

There are some really good fragrance oil stick thingies that get the aroma without the smoke -- can't remember the name of ours, but I'll look it up for you before too long...

[Clean39T]

peace on earth and goodwill towards all.....pretty much sums it up for me.


Cheers to that..

[cloudguy]

No tree here, just a Festivus pole.

You should invite he-who-must-not-be-named over for the "Airing of Grievances" - it would go on and on till New Years.

[572cv]

My grandfather's old farm in northern NH is still in the family. There used to be a Christmas tree plantation on part of it... well, the trees are still there. So every year we go over with a chain saw and clippers and a sled, in the truck. Sometimes we need snowshoes as well. We head down the old road through the woods, till it breaks out into the Christmas trees. Usually the "we" is my daughter and me, sometimes my son too, and wife. We tromp through the snow, staring up at tree tops, trying to size up what the top will look like. See, these are 30 to 40 foot trees, and we're going for the top 8 ft or so. But usually, we get it right, and end up with a great "free range" Christmas tree. We clean up the debris and leave the area tidy and haul the tree back out to the truck. When we get the tree home, we have a tree with lots of topography, as it were, where one can frame the different ornaments collected over the years. The ritual of getting the tree is one of the biggest parts of the holiday at our house. It is so fresh, and perfumes our house with the smell of northern fir for weeks.

[makoti]

Best is real tree, potted, alive then plant it. Shame to kill a tree...

Thank you. Silly custom.

[Ken Robb]

My grandfather's old farm in northern NH is still in the family. There used to be a Christmas tree plantation on part of it... well, the trees are still there. So every year we go over with a chain saw and clippers and a sled, in the truck. Sometimes we need snowshoes as well. We head down the old road through the woods, till it breaks out into the Christmas trees. Usually the "we" is my daughter and me, sometimes my son too, and wife. We tromp through the snow, staring up at tree tops, trying to size up what the top will look like. See, these are 30 to 40 foot trees, and we're going for the top 8 ft or so. But usually, we get it right, and end up with a great "free range" Christmas tree. We clean up the debris and leave the area tidy and haul the tree back out to the truck. When we get the tree home, we have a tree with lots of topography, as it were, where one can frame the different ornaments collected over the years. The ritual of getting the tree is one of the biggest parts of the holiday at our house. It is so fresh, and perfumes our house with the smell of northern fir for weeks.
This is pretty much the American Ideal Christmas Tree Tradition. The closest I ever got was walking from tree lot to tree lot on vacant lots in Chicago, negotiating with men older than my dad, making a deal while Mom watched and dragging it home through slushy/icy streets tied to my Flexi-Flyer sled. Well, fake trees hadn't been invented so this was what we had to do. Dad wanted no part of this action.

[RFC]

Ho Ho Ho! This is a great thread. I know I'm going OT, but it's the holidays.

In my experience, Christmas decoration tends to follow a trend of children and other life changes.

My father faithfully hung lights on our house and outdoor trees until the 1970's energy crisis. Then he had an excuse to stop doing something he really didn't like.

In my immediate family, we did real trees for a number of years and then switched to artificial. I read recently that if you use an artificial tree for 5 years you are are on the right side of a carbon footprint compared to live trees.

My sons are now fine young men and on there own. I no longer do outside decoration. In my last foray into outdoor decoration, I took all of my half working light strings, wrapped them around an old exercise ball, and hung it from the roof.

Thus, behold the flaming ball of the Lord.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4819/46231228352_30d32c4a1b_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dri8w1)IMG_0498 (https://flic.kr/p/2dri8w1) by Robert Copple (https://www.flickr.com/photos/150689726@N06/), on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4855/31342715777_ea36d8f28c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/PKDBrk)IMG_0544 (https://flic.kr/p/PKDBrk) by Robert Copple (https://www.flickr.com/photos/150689726@N06/), on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4858/45557864814_a71a9a35d2_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2cpMXZQ)IMG_0553 (https://flic.kr/p/2cpMXZQ) by Robert Copple (https://www.flickr.com/photos/150689726@N06/), on Flickr

[cloudguy]

Thus, behold the flaming ball of the Lord.



Do you slowly lower it at midnight on New Year's Eve? :)

[RFC]

Do you slowly lower it at midnight on New Year's Eve? :)

LOL!! I actually thought about that!

[mt2u77]

I harvest a “free range” balsam off my family’s land every year. I usually take the top off a mature tree, as they’re super skinny and dense on top, which works for my small living room. I love the untrimmed look, and there’s never a shortage of fresh windfalls or forest areas needing thinning.


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[RFC]

i harvest a “free range” balsam off my family’s land every year. I usually take the top off a mature tree, as they’re super skinny and dense on top, which works for my small living room. I love the untrimmed look, and there’s never a shortage of fresh windfalls or forest areas needing thinning.


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+1

[Dino Suegiù]

We do like oldpotatoe wrote: a living tree, decorated and then planted for a long and happy life.

We do not even use firs, etc. but whatever grows well in the area, suits our horticultural fancy, and looks good in the growing yard. It is actually very fun, to be unbound by the conifer-conventions, and to have this living, growing, and varied Christmas tree diary.

[Ozz]

...The only issue with fake trees is that I can't find real smelling pine scent to add to the effect. I thought about getting a real tree that's real small with a high fragrance to it and put it in another room and then the house would have the pine smell, but not sure if a small one would have enough scent.

Here you go...doubles as an ornament:

[AngryScientist]

i have considered the ethics of cutting down a living tree and burning it/discarding it after christmas a bit.

i think, since we buy from a dedicated tree farm, who employee lots of local kids and folks to work the land, and manage to stay in business selling trees, it's a responsible enough use of land and resources. keeping a small business alive who work the land to make a living does not seem like unreasonable consumption, and the tree farms themselves always look well kept, alive and vibrant with all the replanting and maintenance.

so, i'm OK with the practice of real trees.

[William]

i have considered the ethics of cutting down a living tree and burning it/discarding it after christmas a bit.

i think, since we buy from a dedicated tree farm, who employee lots of local kids and folks to work the land, and manage to stay in business selling trees, it's a responsible enough use of land and resources. keeping a small business alive who work the land to make a living does not seem like unreasonable consumption, and the tree farms themselves always look well kept, alive and vibrant with all the replanting and maintenance.

so, i'm OK with the practice of real trees.

Agriculture: Most Christmas trees are grown for this specific purpose, they aren't roaming the forests looking for masses of three to eight foot trees to chop down. Not a whole lot different then growing corn or soy beans for consumption. I guess one could argue the point about burning it for the carbon release...but one could also chip it and add it to the garden etc...





William

PS: Love the burning ball!!!:cool:

.

[William]

That takes some skill...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUxkjvVOWQ8






William

[redir]

I don't feel bad about eating a carrot just the same as I don't feel bad about cutting a tree down on a tree farm. And I am a bona fide tree hugger too. So what I am saying is we get a real one :D

Help support a local farmer.

[Tony T]

Jim Gaffigan:
"The Christmas tree...where did that tradition come from? It sounds like the behavior of a drunk man. I can picture it now: 'honey, why is there a...pine tree in our living room?' 'I like it...tomorrow...we're gonna...we're gonna decorate it...for Jesus...'”
https://youtu.be/xJAxRVeKnTE

[Brian Smith]

One member of the production staff at Serotta shared with us a phone video taken at a relative's home in the Adirondacks. His family member was depicted taking the top 15 feet or so off a 60 foot tall fir tree from the ground, by firing a shotgun. Until then, hunting a tree never had so graphic an image for me.