Real or Fake????

[znjmom]

We have always gone out and cut down our Christmas tree since we have been married. Now that we're in the south, we obviously can't do that anymore. Live trees here are so expensive and were probably cut down 4 weeks ago. So, DH and I made a life changing decision last night and this morning I did it.......I bought a FAKE tree!! So,it got me thinking, do more people put up a real tree or a fake one??? Which way do you go??

 

[christinadei]

Fake.

 

[poohj80]

We have a real tree for years when we will be home for the holidays, but broke down and bought a fake tree (but it's a REALLY beautiful tree with fiber optic lights) to have during years when we travel to visit family during the holidays since we wouldn't be home to water. We do buy a Mistletoe Yankee Candle though so at least it smells right.

 

[gurleym]

artificial trees here. I have actually never personally had a live tree before. But then again I love to put my tree up the first weekend of November. A live tree would never make it that long. My grandparents used to always have a live tree though. I just remember all the needles falling off and sticking us while we tried to decorate it. Will always use artificial also because of the smell. I am alergic to a lot of trees especially pine..Good question though for the boards.

 

[shades]

I'm allergic to them - so, have only had fake trees for as long as I can remember. I'm absolutely HOOKED on fiber optic trees! We have the usual "blue spruce" fake tree - and we even have to stick one color-coded branch in the "trunk" individually I refuse to upgrade that tree because I bought it when my 13-yr was a baby. But, I do buy smaller 3-4ft fiber optic trees to decorate with. My fav right now is a silver tinsel fiber optic tree. One of these days, when I'm ready to retire the blue spruce, I'm going to get the biggest fiber optic tree I can find so I'll never have to string lights on a tree again

 

[ohiominnie]

fake here.
i toyed with the idea of going out and getting one of the pre-lit trees this year. doing the lights is the worst job. but our tree has to be 6.5 ft or less and the MOST lights i could find on a 6.5 ft tree were 450. right now my old "regular" fake tree has about 1000 lights on it. they go deep into the tree and give a 3-D effect. it's the most beutiful thing. i love pulling onto our street at night and seeing it lit. since we have the corner house and the tree is in that corner of the house, everyone entering our street is greeted by our tree!

 

[Tamis3girls]

Real here, but since we can go to many many tree lots and cut down our own, it is a tradition with us. We cut down the tree, then they give a sleigh ride with their Clydesdale horse and then they have free hot apple cider. My kids would be so disappointed if we did not do this every year.
I can't see myself getting a fake tree, one of my first jobs as a teenager was pruning and shearing trees, now I go and cut the trees from the same people. It is so much fun.

All of our parents now have fake trees though, the kids have fun "putting" Grandma's tree together.

 

[spoon2003]

Always had a real tree, love the fresh tree smell.

Sue from Boston

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Always a live tree. DH and the kids go out and cut one down just like regular lumberjacks. It's a family tradition. We've had quite a few that have looked better on tree farm than they did in the family room but that's part of their charm.

 

[cami89]

While I love the smell and "nostaligia" of real trees, I have no patience for all the mess that goes along with them. Our artificial tree is nice looking, easy to put-up and is pre-lit

 

[we3disneygo]

we go to the Christmas tree farm and cut down a tree every year..you get to ride on a flat bed behind a tractor and have hot cider when you are done.

 

[alikat99]

Fake! We have a prelit tree that we bought a couple of years ago the day after Christmas. I wanted to make sure that I got a REALLY nice one, but I didn't want to spend that much. So, we found one with LOTS of lights on it and it was 1/2 off.

 

[cindermomma]

We have always bought a real tree. We go to the same place each year the first day the trees are out (The weekend before Thanksgiving!). We always had a white pine in the past, but this year a frazier fir caught our eye and that is what we bought! It seems not to drop as many needles as the pine. We love them all though!

 

[funnygarcia]

Allergic to pine and live in an apartment-- real trees are a big no-no according to our lease.

We have one larger 5.5ft fake (rescued from the trash) , a tiny fiberoptic to sit on my boys bookshelf (they burn out the battery within a week as they leave it on when they go to bed ), a mini tree for those tiny ornaments (sits on the kitchen table), a talking tree (annoyning but funny), and three trees (2 ft tall) with plastic ornaments and tons of garland ( used in preschool classroom as a play activity, they love it!).

My goal is to have enough trees for every room.

Might by a new taller tree on clearance this year after Christmas.. DH thinks ours is too short. I think it's fine considering we trash picked it = FREE

 

[jennafo3]

Fake - I'm allergic to pine as well

 

[rie'smom]

Both- I bought a fake wall tree (half tree) from JCPenney for the keeping room. We have a live tree in the dining room and DD's room.

 

[gottaluvdis]

Real here. We always used to cut them ourselves at a tree farm growing up, and we passed that tradition on to our daughter for a few years. Now we just buy pre-cut at one of the plethora of lots around us. We love the fragrance it gives to our home, although every year DH swears we're going to get a fake tree while he's fussing with it. Once it's up and decorated, there's nothing like it. When we get older we'll end up with a fake tree. That's what most people I know end up doing. If we travel over the holidays, we get a small real tree (table-top style) and decorate that instead of going for the 8 footer that we currently have up.

 

[txgirl]

OK, I insisted after a lifetime of real trees that I needed a fake tree when I was pregnant with my third baby. I got the tree and I realized last year it was too small an then I saw a friend of mine and got jealous of how big and fat and beautiful her real tree was, sooooooo I told DH this year, its a real tree again!

Well, guess what? I HATE IT! I can't hang near as many ornaments on it and I feel like the poor thing is weighted down and about to collapse. Fake trees are so much easier to hang lights and ornaments on! Next year I will budget for a really nice fake one and say adios to the real one!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

We used to always buy a real one (already cut down, although cutting down your own sounds like a great tradition), but two years ago my DS had a stem cell transplant and we couldn't have live plants in the house because he could get a fungal infection from them so we got a fake one and have used it ever since. It's just so much easier for me, this year I got a pre-lit one and I love it! I always end up doing the lights by myself and they never look quite right so now I don't have to worry about it, plus it's easier for me to deal with by myself when DH is gone during the holidays.

 

[Michele]

We have 2 fake trees. Love it. We had real for years, but I got tired of the mess, watering, crooked in the stand.......etc.