Real or Fake????

[etwinchester]

Fake

This is our first year not having a real tree. Trees around here are around $30. I was at Walmart 2 weeks ago and found a beautiful fake Douglas Fir Tree (6 1/2 ft) for $39. It was so full and looked like the tree I try to get every year. I broke down and bought it. I was checking out a prelit but they were $80. I didn't want to pay $40 extra dollars for lights. DD loves putting lights on anyway.

I figured that it's easier this way. DH doesn't get home till late and I love having a tree up early. Now I can do it myself and no needles dropping...

I also have little trees (about 2 ft.) in each of our rooms so they look festive. I love trees! They are fake as well with lights and little ornaments.

 

[disneyfanfamily]

Fake. I like the convenience of just pulling it out of the attic every year. However our tree of 12 years went to Christmas tree heaven. Now I have a Charlie Brown tree for this year. I won't spend as much as what they are asking for at stores for a new artificial tree. I will wait until after Christmas to get our new tree when the after Christmas sales come out. FAKE...FAKE...FAKE... Well, at least for me.

 

[newtowdw1]

Fake. When I was growing up, we started out with a real tree and moved to a fake because everyone was just too busy. I got so tired of looking at it, I swore I would always have a real tree. Then I got married and we started out with real, but we could never get the tree decorated unless my husband actually went and got a tree. He waited so long sometimes that by the time he put it up, we could barely enjoy it (we spend the week of Christmas with family out-of-state). So we broke down last year and bought a fake one so we could put it up sooner and enjoy it longer. I intended to have it put up Thanksgiving weekend so that my family who was visiting could see my house decorated for once. That didn't happen. But last night, it finally got put up. Thank God for snow days!

Holy Cow! That is my story almost exactly! Just add three of four with allergies, and you'll have it. I love snow days too!

 

[crisrn2003]

Have always had a fake tree. Two years ago, bought a HUGE, prelit tree. Last year and this year, most of the lights don't work! We got it out today, started messing with the lights, then said to heck with it. We went and bought our first REAL tree, cut it down ourselves and everything. Tonight we get it home, and OMG! It's like the Griswald Family Tree in Christmas Vacation---very big, lots of sap, LOL. When we took the netting off of it, I expected it to spring out the windows! We just keep looking at it and giggling. I guess I'll have to wait and see at the end of the season how it goes.

 

[HaleyB]

Well, after years of cleaning up after a real tree I finally went out and bought a nice fake one. My daughter (7) cried for at least a half hour after I got it home. She loved going out and getting a real tree. Of course she didn't say this at any point in the two weeks that I have been runing around looking at fake trees...

I hope she warms up to it once it is up. She just can't understand that A) I am allergic to pine trees and B) It kills us to pay $40-$80 for the scrawny trees they try to pass off as Christmas trees here in Austin. When we lived up north we could buy a huge, full, beautiful tree for $20. We even got nicer trees for less $ in Southern California.

Now I feel like the Grinch. Great.

 

[MrsPete]

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??

Why can't Southerners have live trees? I've lived here in the South all my life, and I think the tree-decorating populations is split 50-50 on the issue of live vs. fake. We have cut-your-own lots, especially up towards the mountains. In fact, my stepfather once tried to grow a bunch of Christmas trees for profit, but he didn't prune them each year, and they didn't turn out to be nicely shaped (doing things halfway is kind of a habit with him).

Anyway, we've been fake tree people all my adult life, largely because we like to put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and keep it up until after Christmas -- a live tree just wouldn't be pretty OR safe for that length of time. This year, however, we're breaking with tradition and getting a live tree for the first time. Since we don't actually have it yet, I can't comment.

 

[MrsPete]

Real, real, real!!!! Are we the only people left who go out into the WOODS and cut our own tree (w/a USDAFS permit of course)

We did this when I was a kid. We never had a permit, of course, because I grew up on a large farm, and we were cutting our own trees. They were usually cedars, and they weren't really pretty shaped trees like everyone has today (they were just wild trees), but they did the job.

As a kid, my dad would take us out on Christmas Eve to cut the tree, and it'd only stay up 2-3 days. I think that was a matter of having 5 kids in a 1700 square foot house.

 

[jeancbpugh]

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??

Fake. We bought a fake tree last year after realizing both kids had stuffy noses the whole time the real tree was in the house.

Fake is much easier, but doesn't look or smell as good.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

Real! When I was little, we always had real trees, until my brother was diagnosed iwth allergies. then one bad fake after another. When I was on my own, a real tree became a tradition, and DH agrees. We are fortunate to have a wonderful tree farm 3 minutes from our house - a freshly cut tree is soooooo much nicer than the ones from Home Depot or a boy scout fundraiser lot. We also discovered that the Fraser Firs are worth the extra $$ over a Scotch Pine. they have much softer needles, don't drop needles as fast, and DH and I both break out if we get the sap from a Scotch pine on our skin, but not from a Fraser. We have tried every tree stand on the market, and now have a deluxe version that holds over a gallon of water, and the bucket can be tilted in any angle in the base, to correct a not quite straight tree. This year's new gadget is a 3-4 ft funnel with a dipstick, no more bending over, moving packages around to water. check the level with the dipstick, and pour water into the funnel.

honestly, a fake would be cheaper in the long run, but sometimes you have to go with the real thing.

 

[canwegosoon]

Currently Real
I had a nice fake one for 10 years...I just got tired of putting the branches in. So a few years ago we went back to real. I sure the day will come that we will switch back

 

[Echo queen]

Fake,prelit and beautiful! 3 of the 4 of us have allergies and asthma.

 

[MinnieM3]

I've never had anything but a real tree, way down South my whole life! The prices are getting ridiculous, though. I'll keep paying. Just gotta have it real! We did get a fake one for the front room once. (Had a real one, the main one, in the family room). Only put up the fake one a couple of years. It was just for show in the front window.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I remember reading that more fake trees were sold last year than real trees for the first time ever.

 

[ncbyrne]

As a kid, we had many Charlie Brown trees. I was married in 1964 and from then on, we used to make a major production of putting up a huge live tree. DH would cut and trim the branches from the bottom and then drill holes to fit in extra branches in areas that were a bit sparse. We always got a Douglas fir (they have wonderful double needles), but after years of finding needles in our carpeting months after Christmas I got sick of it. This year I have a fake tree. It's in our front room, in the window, and looks every bit as lovely, with a fraction of the work. After all these many years, this Grandma is happy, fake tree or live, as long as my kids/grands will show up on Christmas day and spend the afternoon with me.

 

[MrsPete]

I remember reading that more fake trees were sold last year than real trees for the first time ever.

Hmmm . . . that statistic is more meaningful than meets the eye at first. A good quality fake tree will last about ten years (well, it'll last more than that, but it'll start to look like it's been dragged up and down the attic steps after ten years), while a real tree is a one-time purchase. So the great majority of people must be using fake trees.

 

[doodlebugs-mom]

Fake as I my allergies flare up around real ones and I hate the mess.

 

[bear74]

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??

Fake but I am allergic to the real ones so that is why we go with fake. parents and Brother also have fake trees.

 

[disneyfanz04]

As a kid I always had a fake tree, so I vowed I would never have a fake tree again....until now...we have a real one this year, but I think I am going to buy a fake one after christmas...and if I don't like it next year, then I can still go out and get a real one...the real ones are starting to be a pain in th ebutt...watering, needles, lopsided in the stand, ornaments too heavy, etc...

Who knows, maybe I will like the fake one again.

 

[znjmom]

Why can't Southerners have live trees? I've lived here in the South all my life, and I think the tree-decorating populations is split 50-50 on the issue of live vs. fake. We have cut-your-own lots, especially up towards the mountains. In fact, my stepfather once tried to grow a bunch of Christmas trees for profit, but he didn't prune them each year, and they didn't turn out to be nicely shaped .

Oh, Southerners can have live trees, but coming from Central NY where we could cut down our own tree for $20, to here in Central FL where you go get one at the grocery store that was probably cut down 3-4 weeks ago for $60, it's just not the same.

 

[Misty89]

We always had a real tree! every year of my life( growing up, and adult) But- Last year we won a 6 1/2 foot tree at a festival of trees - fully lighted adn decorated!!!! so that is our tree for a while until i get tired of this one ( i have changed out the decorations on it) I never thought i would say this....But i do not miss a "real tree" I dont have to worry where i put it so it does not dry out out from the furnace, I dont have to give it water!, and there will be NO mess!
For the past 8 years we have always gone out to the tree farm and picked our tree - we froze, DH really hated going, and it was a PIA ( arms, litterly) to drag in the house and set up ( i am slightly sesitive to pine sap)
Sure, its a fake, but it looks good and it was free!! ( OK, the raffle tickets were 2$ LOL)

fake is good!


Tina