Nothing says Christmas like killing a tree!

we've been using the same artificial tree for over 10 years now, we have no access to real trees as we did when we were kids.
here's the before and after of this year's setup

we've been using the same artificial tree for over 10 years now, we have no access to real trees as we did when we were kids.
here's the before and after of this year's setup

Try living in the Southern Hemisphere! We are in the middle of summer.... It is hard imagining working up a sweat decorating a fake or real tree! Sad in some ways, but I have 50 plus years of wonderful memories in Europe and North America that sustain me. Guess ill go to the beach because baking cookies just "ain't gonna cut it!"

when we did have real tree's and it came time to take them down there was no family to be found.. then when it was all done,pine needles everywhere all over the carpet. Now i couldn't deal with it all.:)

Even though I've had allergies since I was very young, my dad would always insist on getting a "real tree", and I'd always end up sick as a dog for Christmas. That first year with an artificial tree was a revelation! Now that I have kids with allergies as well? I'm with Cathy: my house smells of cookies, candies, and banana bread during the holidays, and that's good enough for us!

We had the same artificial tree for forty (yes - 40) years. I got it on sale when I was a student. I got many comments over the year about how nice it was to have a real tree, and it did look real. I think that, after 40 years, I could throw it away (it finally broke down and the branches wouldn't stay up) without too much worry about ruining the environment.

I have always resisted an artificial tree, mostly for the lack of fragrance, but also because there is something magical about bringing a real tree indoors and decorating it with your family. This year & going forward I need to be more mindful of costs and have decided that the investment in a "realistic" fake will pay for itself in about 5 years. I'll just have to get a candle or two to provide the scent. I look forward to no messy needles & putting my tree up earlier & taking it down later....extending the traditions of the season. Artificial trees, roping & wreaths have really come a long way...they'd have to to make a traditionalist like me buy into the idea!

I like both. But, if I am going with artificial (which I have 3 small different size funky trees) I have the freedom of different creative displays. I decorate the large (approx. 4 ft) with the more elegant features. I.e. gold, off whites, and pearls. The next largest is with different colors. One of my favorites is purple. The smallest tree (probably 2 ft. high) I do with with my little creatures that I have collected throughout the years. That one is actually my favorite. This year I did see on a decorating program how to put put 3 or more trees together to make a spectacular display. I may try this next year.
I do however, love a fresh tree because of the smell. However, like everyone else, and for every other inconvenience mentioned, I haven't had one in years (which I swore I would never give up.....plus the cost for a quality tree has gone up so much that the extra cost has been prohibitive). There is so much you can do with not pretending an artificial tree is or even pretends to look like a real one.

My husband are children are horribly allergic to pine. The artificial tree is the only way we can have a tree for Christmas.

The most important reason for using an artificial tree wasn't even mentioned. Real trees are a fire hazard. If you have ever seen a house after a tree fire you would never consider a ral tree again.

I've had the fake up since Dec 1st. Got a real 3 ft. one for the kitchen (smell!) a couple of days ago along with some free branches from the tree lot. I stick these into the fake tree here and there. Nothing makes a fake look more real than a few pine needles on the floor!

No tree here either!

Lived for years in a hot, dry 5th-floor-walk-up apartment where I couldn't control the heat (other than by opening windows, not always an option). My choice has been artificial - can't risk the fire danger. And it's a lot easier stuffing the tree box in the back of the closet than carrying a live tree up and down my stairs.

With two large Bernese Mt Dogs, we felt it would be easier this year with an artificial tree.

I don't understand why anyone would want a fake anything in his or her house. Doesn't it defeat the purpose? Get a fake tree, light the ceramic logs, hang the plastic mistletoe, plug in the electric candles, and hang a pine tree air freshener. Sounds cozy, now we just need some fake people to complete the scene. It's a lot less trouble and mess than bringing in real people. Hope there's enough toufurkey for everyone.

Ooooops - I have fake reindeer ....................

I've already replied with a real tree but wanted to update on what I will be getting NEXT year. It will be a fake on after for the second time with a real tree all the needles are falling off after frequent watering and adequate water. We always had real growing up and wanted a real for my daughters first XMAS...that one turned brown so I went with an artificial...other than the cats invading it nightly and raiding the ornaments it was fine. THis year we are in a new home and wanted a large real tree.....so now I have the balls being raided every night along with an unbelievable amount of needles on the floor. I have been keeping the lights off as much as possible for fear of it's browning before XMAS again. BOOOO. Back to an artificial next year:(.

Just wanted to say, the ugly 3 foot plastic Santa outside on our front porch has a real, special place in my real heart!

thinking outside the box

Real, I cut it down from under the power lines - so I can justify through helping hydro maintain the lines! I just love the smell of douglas fir and the wild ones have lots of room to hang ornaments. Happy holidays!

Dicesore:To each their own! But come on its Christmas. Here's why we have an artificial tree, we had 4 children and for years we went to the woods and then tree farms and cut our tree, back then it was a lot of fun. Now I'm lucky to get the tree out of the box, I'm happy with it. actually, I'm a tree nut, I have more than one,my daugther has a lot of fun over it, if we go shopping~~ Mom no more trees! Its got to be a joke between us. Actually, you can make fake trees look beautiful, along with my fake lights in the windows. When my Grandson was little he ask me why i had a light in the window. I told him, it was for him, so he would always know if he needed anything i would have a light in the window for him to come home too. He has never forgot that. Oh yea, we do have real people, who loves the real meaning of Christmas, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. ~~Merry Chriistmas, Elaine

Can't beat a good quality "non-drop" real tree. Just taking mine down and the smell still fills the house. Everyone commented on it. As for it's disposal, that's what husbands are for :-)

@ blubelle why kind of tree did you buy? I have tried twice and ended up having a pine needle disaster with a bone dry tree. This is after frequent watering and not having it by the heating duct....

I got both. An artificial one for the front room (street view) and real one for the great room. I love the smell and tradition of a real tree, This year I didn't decorate the artificial tree. No one could tell from the street and we never use the front room, so I saved myself a lot of time by just plugging it in.

HI Suzanne, did you cut the bottom off of the tree right before putting it into the tree stand? The tree will quickly seal itself from where it was cut, so it has to be the last thing done before inserting into the stand. Dad would always have the water mixed with a little bit of molasses to the warm water ready to pour into the stand immediately. Rarely had many needles come off. We also always got the trees directly from a tree farm, so that it was as fresh as possible, but still always cut about two inches off the trunk. Hope this helps.

Can't remember the exact specie but a reputable garden center will help. Just be sure to ask for non-drop needles. Mine has been up since the 8th and apart from that 1st watering, I have not touched it and it is almost against the radiator. It has dried slightly but only in so far as the needles are sharper. The colour is as good and it has held it's shape. Good luck next year!

Three weeks and coming down today, and only a few needles from my White pine fell to the floor.
I used a recipe from Pinterest for watering the tree, and I'm sure it worked. I may look into artificial for next year as three of us have have allergies to the real one. :(
1/2 cup bleach
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking soda
Add to water, worked for us, although perhaps we had a 'wet' tree? It's coming down today.

Happy New Year!!

I am very slowly taking down the Christmas things. I start with taking down "obviously Christmas" and leaving "merely winter". I find that eliminating everything all at once is too much of a shock to my system!

Happy packing up to all!

Years ago we got 2 small artificial trees for grandma to enjoy decorating in her nursing home room. Now my toddler grandkids enjoy doing the same thing with many of the same unbreakable ornaments we gave G'ma. They aren't big or fancy, but the 'spirit of Christmas' is right there for us.

We had a 14' real tree for many, many years. It came with a lot of work (and expense for ornaments, especially as I like a change from time to time) but was absolutely beautiful and was worth all the effort/expense. 3 years ago we bought a really good quality 9' artificial tree and I love it for different reasons, it's cleaner, easier to put up, decorate and take down and I can put it up on a moments notice and leave it up for as long as I like. It's very beautiful as well and I buy the balsam scented hangers that are designed for trees to give it that "real" scent.

pcmom1
The shock of removal is compensated by the breath of air that comes from "loosening" the decor and a thorough cleaning. My sister and I have a tradition of racing to undecorate on New Years Day... who can get rid of it fastest!! This week, I"ll enjoy fresh tulips in a huge vase, and revel in the clean, knowing its only 329 days till we start hauling it back out again.

Real Christmas trees have several environmental benefits. These Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air, provides oxygen and freshen the atmosphere.

Oh, Jan, really, counting days already!!!!

Jan, like the idea of fresh tulips. Next week! But if I tried to take everything down in one day...exertion would probably cause heart attack!
OK, another cup of coffee and I take down and pack away the "village".

I grew up with real trees & have always had one in my adult years. For me, it's a treasured Christmas tradition. Our sons are now young men but still single and will be home for Christmas. My husband will not go along with the real tree this year because he has reached an age where he fears it is a potential fire hazard. I will appease him in this but I'm sad about it. If ever given the choice again, I will have a real tree. I don't mind the needles and mess and I'm a neat freak/perfectionist. Two simple things I enjoy most in life are real Christmas trees and real fires in the fire place. Snap, Crackle, pop!

Goodness, where has the year gone, can't believe the decorations are in the shops already and it is time to start all this again.

I wish to get my living room plastered before christmas, so probably no tree at all.

The one time I got a real pine tree chopped fresh that day by someone else, I had an asthma attack. Didn't realise the sap and smell of the needles releasing something when the tree is cut would set me off. Baaaad tree! I don't do Christmas now the kids are adult and gone. I have an itty bitty gold tree which sits on the mantle piece and that is the extent of the deco's in the house.

rinqreation - know the feeling, my living room was in pieces last Christmas - in fact most of the house was so I'm rather looking forward to making up this Christmas. No kids coming this year so won't do a tree but I've purchased a bookcase that will be my "mantle" to decorate, I was so inspired by all the beautiful mantles last year.

I love Christmas and have always wanted the "real" thing but I need to simplify the process. A friend of mine purchased a "flip" portable artificial tree from Frontgate. Wondering if anybody has reviews for this product.

I use a fake tree, 6 1/2 feet tall "pencil" tree. When I had my
first apartment it was skinny enough to fit in my small living room and we now use it to this day in our home.

I have a new, lovely, pre-lit artificial tree, 9' tall. Problem is, with my new configuration in the living room, I don't know where I'm going to put it this year. Dilemma.

I've always loved real trees, but they are too hard for me to manage alone, and I always 'feel sad' at the end of the season seeing all these perfect trees lying in the road for pickup. I know they get recycled into mulch, but it still seems so wasteful to me.

Kd - get that basement done girl and put it down there. That will probably be where you will do most of your entertaining anyway. Keep your living room to some nice ornaments and table decorations, that can look really classy.

If I put a tree up, I like to spend time really decorating it, just not worth the time and effort on a real tree that is dead in a week.

My choice is definitely an artificial tree. But I don't think they last any longer than real ones. Virtually every year my husband of 38 years goes downstairs to bring up last year's tree. Then he comes back up a couple of hours later, empty-handed, sadly shaking his head, and explaining why we need to buy a new tree. The 1,000 lights are the usual suspects. Although the manufacturer swears if one burns out the rest will remain lit, you know doggone well he deserves coal in his stocking. Sometimes the cause is a combination of entire sections of burned out lights and impossible-to-identify colored tips that are key to the assembly of the prickly little beast that seals its fate. Judging from the six human-body-sized, bulging boxes in our storage room we've amassed an impressive collection of at least six full-sized trees. My sweet, well-intentioned hubby, who works 80-hour weeks, has vowed annually to donate the old trees to charity, but his intentions seldom make it upstairs these days, which has a lot to do with our son, our only child, being a Marine. He doesn't talk about it. Like most men, he holds everything in so tightly, he clamps down on his lower lip with his front teeth to keep his feelings from popping out. Perhaps he opens up to his kindred spirits, the lonely trees, while he's downstairs pondering their fate. I hope so. I've begun looking forward to our annual trek to Home Depot to "chop down" our newest artificial tree from their pile of boxes. Our son got leave this year. I pray he makes it home safely. He'll be home with us and with his little girl. I can't imagine needing anything brighter than the lights in my granddaughter's five-year-old eyes. But Grampa will surely pick out a shiny new tree, with 1,000 blinking white lights, guaranteed to remain lit even if one burns out, by a person destined to receive coal in his or her stocking. M

Haven't seen mention of allergies to cut trees. I'd love a real tree but artificial makes a great 2nd choice!

Makennanc, you could create a great forest look with all those old trees. Especially if they are different heights. Do you have a large family room?

Defever- wise move. Our 8 mo kitten has decided our tree is there for his entertainment. After pulling off all the decorations he could reach from the floor, he now climbs it to knock down the high ones! Our tree is looking very bare now!

I have an artificial tree in my dining room and a real tree in my family room.

Thanks for digging up a thread that's been dead for almost 4 years--a pointless thread about Xmas--in the middle of summer--just to flog some tacky little Chinese-made tschotske!

Can we never get a break from Xmas?