Quick survey - Real or Fake tree this year?

B

Bob W

Joined
Dec 31, 2000
Messages
17,079
OK, it's that time of the year again, the time for us to to do our manly/husbandly/fatherly task - putting lights on the tree ahead of the family ornament-hanging session. My torture was delayed until today. What an ass-pain - replacing dead bulbs, un-tangling the strings, not missing any spots, getting good interior coverage, and ending the final strand at the correct spot. That's been my job every year, it was my father's job each and every year, and it was probably his father's job every year. And it'll be my boy's job when he's raising his own family.

The question, did you buy natural Christmas trees for your family's holidays this year? Fake tree? Neither?

Ours is natural, as always. Grown at a tree farm in Oregon and trucked all the way to stores in Colorado (where apparantly there are no evergreen trees :) ).

Wife saw a bit on television this morning that said natural tree sales have been rising. So has anyone here abandoned their phony factory-made tree and reverted to natural?

Anyone select their own from the woods? Anyone get a National Forest permit? Anyone cut their own from a tree farm?

Happy Holidays!
-Bob
 
Bob, my tree is a fake 6 ft fiber optic jobby. Wife wanted it, so she got it. Gotta keep momma happy! Myself, I like a real tree. No real tree tradition in my family, except dad gets the tree, mom and kids decorate it. :D I hope to maybe carry that on someday. I hate decorating trees, but I love looking at them! -Matt-
 
I put lights up outside today. They look good. My wife and sister in law put the tree up last saturday.

I can give you a tip for not having tangled lights. Use your knife to cut out the side of a stout cardboard box, (a 12 bottle wine box is ideal). Cut a slot and slip the electrical plug into the slot. Wind the cord and lights around the cardboard and secure the other end in another slot. Plug in and check all the bulbs light, replacing any that don't. If you have spare bulbs, put them in a small bag and insert into another slot. Stand all your light strings on card into a carboard box, and put the box into a black garbage bag. All sorted until next year. :)
 
Not a pleasant subject for me this year. I love a real tree, and the experience and memories of taking the kids(or, more recently, Grandkids) out to the local tree farm to cut one down. This year, I was outvoted by the wife. Seems she didn't want to do that this year, nor did she want to clean up all the needles, so she went out and bought some cheesy looking fake tree. I'm not kidding; this thing is one step above Charlie Brown's tree. Like I said, I'm not happy.
 
We live in the heart of X-mas tree country.
Click to expand...
Wife went to school in Oregon and everyone she knew there had a real tree. Growing up in Illinois, our trees were always from Wisconsin, or occasionally hand-picked at a tree farm.

Apparantly a few years ago there was a 'retro' movement back towards 50s-style trees, when aluminum trees were popular. Anyone have one of those?

-Bob
 
this thing is one step above Charlie Brown's tree.
Click to expand...
The worst tree ever, a Lob-lolly Pine that I cut alongside a forest road. That thing made Charlie Brown's tree look like the Daley Plaza. :D

The "Christmas Fica" wasn't so great either. :D

-Bob
 
for the first few years we were married we had real trees that often looked like the charlie brown tree but it was okay cause we went out and cut it ourselves. but for i don't know how long we've gone with a never ending line of cheesy looking plastic trees even a {gasp} white one. pardon me while i go out back and hang my head in shame. later, sigh, ahgar
 
Always had a real tree (hey, in Germany we even had REAL beeswax candles on it - lit!) until about 6 years ago. We finally found a fake one that looks more "real" than the real ones - and we don't have to clean up the needles. Some of which are STILL stuck in the carpet from real trees that stood there years ago. We pile some REAL pine boughs around the base for that 'woodsy' smell and if the dog tries to pee on it we know we've done our job.:)
 
Real, when I get one. I love very small Charlie Brown trees, the funkier the better. Then I put my lights on it and I buy some awesome wide ribbon and attach bows to the ends of the branches. It's a girly-girl tree.
 
Real tree! A fake one is better'n nothing, but real is always superior :D :thumbup:

These recent years, I take out my younger siblings and, perhaps, nieces and nephew. If we don't drive out to the mountains to cut one down, we go shopping the local tree lots. I love Christmas tree shopping!
 
Real tree for us. My mom went to fake and it's very convenient, but for me going to the lot, picking one out, hauling it home etc is more Christmassy than dragging a box out of the garage and assembling your "tree".
 
Fake tree. We are a divided family on this topic. My wife and son like the fake tree for some unfathomable reason. My daughter and I always liked the real tree, and for years we made the tree farm trip and cut our own. Since the hit and run, she would have a difficult time going, and the extra layers of complexity added to our lives by her care make the convenience of an artificial tree nice at this time.:(

This is the year I decided enough is enough, light strings are cheap, and I chucked the old strings and bought new ones.

I miss the smell of a real tree. A couple of days ago, I had one of those
"do'h" moments. For years I have used the pine-scented pin-on wafers sold for cover scent for deer hunting. It occurred to me that a couple of these hung unobtrusively at the center of the tree ought to address this issue nicely. At least it will smell like a tree.:)
 
Fake, fake fake. Wife likes it, no watering, no mess to clean up. I like it because I don't have to go out and get it or put it up, or get rid of it. My son likes it because he puts it together by himself.
 
In NYC they're spending as much as $ 400 for a real tree. Here I just walk into the woods and pick one. I know someone who , after living in the city for years , moved to the country. With a nice house with cathederal ceiling he took his son out to find a very large tree for that high ceiling. They dragged the tree back started to pull it into the house when it got stuck !! He never thought of the size of the door ! He had to get some help to cut it so it would fit through the door but by then it wasn't nearly as big !!
 
Ours is real. We did a fake tree one year (our first apartment didn't allow real trees), but since then the wife and I go cut ours down.

(now monitoring thread to see how long before it gets moved to G&G) :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top