Both. The real tree is our main tree, but I like to put a couple others up too, and I'm not going to cut down several trees every year. I'm still working on getting a retro silver aluminum tree. I think The Vermont Country Store sells them.

Ah yes! The Nimrod tree!
Love when they refer to trees that have been cut down as "live trees."

They are still "live" until they no longer absorb water and "die". Just like fresh cut flowers.

Subtropical Queensland, cut the tops of my lemon myrtle a few days before Christmas and put in a big vase with water. Lovely lemony smell and roughly conical shape. As a child my family always had eucalyptus branches put up on Christmas Eve. Nativity set is put up on 2nd December.

Yay, nativity set! Best are the ones hand carved in Bethlehem by persecuted minority. Available online. Or the Italian ones with the whole village included. Also available online.

I always keep it real... YEAH!!! Uh, unless it's a Christmas tree, then I go artificial.

Used to take the kids to choose a couple of trees to cut down. They are now grown so I have artificial with lights already on. So much easier and I decorate like there is no tomorrow. Also, they now make some ornaments from a pine smelling substance which you tuck into the tree. Smells like the real thing!!

Real trees can be a pain, but it's worth it!

Artificial trees are more environmentally friendly re-usable.

Kitchensky, that's not true. The plastic and artificial materials used to make imitation trees are much more harmful to the environment than tree farms. Natural trees are planted and improve the environment for the seven to ten years they grow to maturity before being cut down. They are trees are purposefully planted and would not have existed otherwise, so there is no impact on the existing forests.

There are many valid reasons for owning an artificial tree, but I don't think environmental impact is one of them.

Real this year;)

There is no clear cut answer to which is more environmentally friendly. Both have pros and cons. I grew up with real trees, but am somewhat lazy as an adult, and the fake ones look pretty good. That said, this year we're going real. We're going to go about 15 feet from our front door and cut down the Cedar tree there. Hate to cut down a pretty tree, but there's no way we can keep a cedar tree growing 15 feet from our front door. So this year it's the xmas tree.

Novicenoodler in some cases u may be correct, but there are several lines made out of recycled plastic that are very environmentally friendly. It takes several years to grow the trees used for about one week. I'll have to nix nay u on that one.

My preference is for a real tree. However, for a very long time my personal circumstances have been such that having one just doesn't fit into my lifestyle. I was a single mom for most of my son's life, and the last time I had a real tree, my son was six years old. It was a Douglas fir-not a cheap tree, and I realize that none of them are cheap, but I had extra money that year, and I bought it, and managed to get it home. I found myself struggling to have to chop the trunk enough to get it in the tree stand. I suddenly had a new appreciation/understanding of why my own father often got very "grinch-like" when having to put up our "real"tree years before-and I'm old enough to remember when artificial trees were usually only purchased by "rich" folks(in fact, when we finally did get our first "fake" tree-an aluminum one-I really thought we had arrived, socially speaking.) Fortunately a family friend-a guy-came along, and in just a very few chops had the tree trunk trimmed enough, and he picked it up and popped it into the stand. We got it into the house, and it was okay, pretty much from that point-at least until I spent months finding dry needles in places where I never expected to find them. My son is now grown, but doesn't live close by, and doesn't have the temperament or the inclination to help me put up a real tree even if he did.
If I was wealthy enough-which I'm not, unfortunately-I'd hire someone to put the tree up for me, and then to dispose of it after the holidays. So, an artificial tree is the way for me to go-at least for the foreseeable future.

Artificial, unfortunately. I love real and it feels more like Christmas, but between allergies and other health problems, artificial just works out better all around. I try to get some of that fresh pine smell in ways that don't cause problems, like a wreath on the outside of the front door - you get a whiff when you come in, but it doesn't really permeate the room.

Have had both in the past. I prefer real. Artificial just "feels" so artificial.

I prefer real but with a cat in the house it might turn out like the movie Christmas Vacation ,so I stick with the fake .

http://ca.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&p=christmas+vacation

Real! I love how they smell, I love how each year it looks a little different, and I love how the pine needles makes my vacuum smell. The only thing I don't like is the possibility of unwanted house guests.

In 2010, about 3.5 weeks after buying a Christmas Tree from a church, we had a living room full of tiny "praying" creatures. The funniest part was that as I was vacuuming the needles around the tree, they would straighten up, look just like a needle, then pop up on their feet. I couldn't tell the needles from the mantids! LOL....

Ironically, a friend of a friend, who loves mantids, was contemplating a trip up north, to buy some. Instead, he was told to introduce himself to me, at my bar, because I could save him a trip. He said they looked like the Carolina mantis, which makes sense, because in FL, our trees are usually from NC.

Definitely artificial! Working on this one now!

Solraven.....oh my goodness, those things are on my top 3 list of terrifying things ever to exist on planet Earth. If those on real Christmas trees, I'm going to stick with artificial!

Genevieve, my fluffy, long haired kitty decided to chew on the lights, while I had them plugged in, and trying to get them on the tree. All I heard was a kitty cat gurgling sound, from the other side of the tree. By the time I got to the other side, she had taken off, to hide under the bed, for the next 45 minutes. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt, and.... she learned her lesson. She never attempted to chew on the lights, or any other cords, but she still enjoyed climbing. :)

wife, I was surprised that they didn't freak me out. At the time, I thought they were still an endangered species, so that made me want to not kill them, like any other bug. Unfortunately, it was in the 50º's that week, so I'm sure, the ones still on the tree, when I took it to the curb, didn't survive.

I have a great stand with wheels and a storage bag attached. I bag the tree at the end of the season and roll it into the garage for storage. Now I love setting up my tree!

Being from pretty much the Christmas tree growing capital of the country, I can't imagine not having a real tree. We have varieties to choose from (noble/douglas/grand), and--sorry to say to the rest of you--at very economical pricing on lots, and even less at U-cut places. Grand fir is my choice, at $25 for an 8' tree, one day off the farm at a lot a mile from my house. We pay a bit of a different price in having rainy weather and gloomy skies, but our Christmas trees are fantastic. :) The worst idea we ever had was getting the one we cut ourselves bound with twine for the trip home. Got it in the stand, which was an easier chore, but when we cut the twine once in our living room, it looked rather like National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. I never saw loose needles and random bugs go projectile before.

Speaking of bugs nothing beats an Aussie Christmas beetle. So pretty

Anything real is worth celebration. We must have a nice orchard Christmas tree rather than putting some dummy show in Christmas eve. We should make the tree grow and nourish well throughout the year so that day of celebration is memorable as the outcome of whole year in the moments of celebration. Our emotions are attached to things which we all really care about.

We always choose REAL !

I've never experienced anything but a real tree.

We will be purchasing a real tree this year for our first house.

Yea! A few words to the wise: Together, grab the tree at each end and give it a good shake out in the driveway. Don't wait to get it in the stand (it needs water). Cut a couple of inches off the bottom when you get it home to help it take in water (they kind of seal up after cutting/transport). Invest in a good stand that holds plenty of water, with a pan on the bottom that is about 4" high. Put the stand on in the garage. When you bring it in or take it out....stand end goes in/out first. Close or divert any heating vents that are right by the tree. And have a terrific first home Christmas!!!

I've gone back and forth and finally had to wish you'd added Other as a choice:) When my son was still home it was a 'real' tree for the main tree with fabulous mini-fakes for just about every room of the house.

After he married and moved out I gave him nearly all the decorations except for a couple of the fakes. It worked for me but when I remarried my new husband insisted on 'real' trees the first two years. Which was very nice but last year he looked the other way when a pre-lit fake jumped in my trolley at the grocery. After I put the baubles on it he was sold on fakes.

Real, from the local Ikea. They "sell" them for $25 or so, but the whole plan is run by a local charity: I pay Ikea $25 at the check-out, the charity does all the staffing outside with the trees, and Ikea gives me a $25 in-store gift certificate, so everyone wins!

We stick the tree out in the garden, and put lights on it, and pull it out in the spring once the snow has gone.

REAL!
the fake ones actually make me sneeze.

Do you still or ever had one of those ceramic Christmas tree?

real! i love the scent and it just makes christmas more special and authentic!

Genevieve, back in the late 1960's, my Mother made four (bought the green ware form, painted, glazed & fired it in her own small kiln) , for each of her married daughters and herself. I kept mine up until we needed to downsize when moving six years ago. The ceramic trees had little multi-color plastic bulbs that shined from the lightbulb inside the tree. Thanks for bringing that memory back to me.

There is nothing more artificial than a real tree inside your house!

I love real trees but artificial is easier.....I've tried to simplify over the years

Trout hanging on a tree is artyfishy.

To compromise, I like to add some real greenery here and there around the house. It adds a little of that wonderful smell of Christmas.

Artificial...to many family and friends with allergies to do real.

I would never kill a tree for a decoration. However, my sister buys a live tree (with roots) and keeps it watered over the holidays and decorates like normal, THEN she plants it out in the yard after the holidays.

I have a real tree every year. I have no guilt regarding this. Tree lots get their trees from tree farms which are good for the environment and replenished. You would not stop eating corn on the cob because you don't want it killed. Same thing. Plundering a forest was a whole different and awful thing. Buying a tree from a tree lot usually helps a small businessman in America stay afloat.

Christmas trees, come from Christmas Tree farms. These trees would not exist, and would not have been germinated and planted, if it were not for the holiday we call, Christmas. Buying real trees, encourages more and more trees to be planted, year after year.

I love the real tree....nothing like that smell. :) But I have a lot of fakes....so that's not happening. Merry Christmas! :)

We always have the fake one. Maggie Andersen above gives a good point. On the aside, our local christmas tree farm had small trees. Perfect for us bc we dwell in a small space. But we don't have the land to transplant. So i asked them we could buy then later on return, and to my bewilderment they said no (it wasn't like i was asking for our $25 purchase to be rebated...i just didn't want a useful tree to land up in the dump...they could have just replanted and resold the next year) Needless to say we ended up not buying from them

MERRY X MAS EVERY ONE

I love the smell of real trees, but after being married to a firefighter for almost 25 years, I wouldn't have one due to the fire danger. Almost every year right around Christmas you read of a massive house or apartment fire that kills 6 or 8 small children caused by a lights on a dried out tree. You just can't put a heat source on a dry fuel source and not have these types of tragedies occur! Ask yourself: is your or your family's life worth the smell of a real tree with lights? I hope it isn't.

If I were younger, I'd sure go with the real tree. What can compare with the smell, the experience of cutting it down yourself, the sustaining of tree farmers? Nothing. But...as I age, the ease of setting up a very high end, pre lighted tree with no dropping needles has become my preference. I never thought I'd sell out to artificial, but I have. Life goes on...