Real or Fake? (Christmas trees)

[Trebuchet]

After I spent most of my life swearing I'd never have a fake tree, we've had one for several years and I'm pretty happy with it. It seemed like the price of the real ones was going up as fast as the quality was going down. I saw truckloads of them in late October this year. You?

[Maksutov]

None.

Maybe a pre-0 CE wreath on the door to celebrate the solstice.

Then drat the idea that the days are getting longer again!


http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/566/iconwink6tn.gif

[jrkeller]

While I prefer a real tree, I feel it is wasteful and that's why I have a fake tree.

[aurora]

I voted don't put one up, although I sometimes do decorate a potted tree. I use the same tree for several years, and when it gets too big I plant it.

[Ronald Brak]

In Australia a traditional christmas tree is plastic. But now people have actually started selling actual pine trees for christmas in Australia which is just weird. In freezing lattitudes it can make sense to have a tree in your house as you can burn it to prevent hypothermia but why anyone would want an actual sawn down dying tree in the average Australian house is beyond me. If you want a real christmas tree that's won't have to die for your vanity, go hang some decorations on the gum tree outside. (But no lights please, it annoys the astronomers.)

[Captain Kidd]

Err I wouldn't call it vanity and we typically the get root ball ones and plant them afterwards.

[TheOncomingStorm]

Well we have a real tree.

[mickal555]

Fake, but we havn't had one for a few years now... It went missing...

I put up the lights though, it's so cloudy here at this time of year theres not much astronomy to do...

[Torsten]

In about 11 hours I will go for a drive with my kids and find an Abies lasiocarpa (http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/subalpinefir.htm), a real Tannenbaum, or a Picea glauca (http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/whitespruce.htm), cut it down and bring it home.

I had to stop the tradition some years ago and settle for a plastic one because the ones I found were considered Charlie Brown trees, but my kids now insist we get a real one. Bless 'em.

[Maksutov]

Fake, but we havn't had one for a few years now... It went missing...

I put up the lights though, it's so cloudy here at this time of year theres not much astronomy to do...Are you ready for all that real xmas atmosphere, with people dressed in winter wear, Santa in his cold weather suit, and the icicles and snow and frost and all the other accoutrements?

Are you dreaming of a White Christmas™ (http://www.whitechristmasthemusical.com/intro.html)?

[jkmccrann]

In Australia a traditional christmas tree is plastic. But now people have actually started selling actual pine trees for christmas in Australia which is just weird. In freezing lattitudes it can make sense to have a tree in your house as you can burn it to prevent hypothermia but why anyone would want an actual sawn down dying tree in the average Australian house is beyond me. If you want a real christmas tree that's won't have to die for your vanity, go hang some decorations on the gum tree outside. (But no lights please, it annoys the astronomers.)


Couldn't disagree more Ronald! I'd hardly say that traditional Christmas trees in Australia are plastic - I think they're more like a 1980s invention to be honest!

I'd always, and we always do, go for a nice real tree - reasonable size (about 2-3m), plonk it in the corner of the living room and fill it up the area underneath with presents. We have a fairly large family, 7 in the family, and we always have the relatives around - every year, about 30-35 usually. So by the time we get to opening the presents - there are quite a number usually, and by then everyone's blind drunk and staggering around waving the flies away and going delirious in the heat!

Very funny, but very enjoyable couple of days usually - we usually have the other half of the family over on the Boxing Day and we go through the whole Christmas Dinner again whilst everyone watches the start of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race and the Boxing Day Test in the cricket - which usually has the Aussies destroying whichever visiting team happens to be in town - that is if I haven't gone to the cricket - which I probably do every other year. India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies - they've all been well and truly flogged in recent years on Boxing Day.

This year the hapless English are in town for the Ashes series - and an early prediction is that - yep, they'll be flogged and Captain Freddy might be in trouble as the skipper I'd say. Also, they're predicting a World Record Test Crowd this year for the Boxing Day Test - somewhere north of 400,000 should be there - should be great to give the Poms heaps! haha :)

But back to the poll, always real - ALWAYS. Ironically, a lot of pine plantations are currently going up in smoke - something like 300,000 hectares of forest is currently on fire around here - the firies are having an awful time trying to contain these fires!

[Ronald Brak]

Couldn't disagree more Ronald! I'd hardly say that traditional Christmas trees in Australia are plastic - I think they're more like a 1980s invention to be honest!

1980's is not traditional? I figure in a nation that's just over 100 years old you have to take what you can get.

[Moose]

Fake. Plants don't like me very much. The feeling is mutual.

[R.A.F.]

My Wife and I consider "Charlie Brown Trees" to be the best...they're the most fun to decorate.

[dirty_g]

have not had a real xmas tree for about 10 years

[OptimusShr]

Fake. The last you for years, no need to water, and needles don't get all over the place.

[foreignkid]

Real trees smell so good, though!

[peteshimmon]

Oh those sharp needles on the floor. A really
hopeless tradition. The near perfect
immitation is possible and can be built into
a panel in the wall which is opened every
December. Ah the labour saving! And the energy
saving!

[Metricyard]

Fake. The last you for years, no need to water, and needles don't get all over the place.

I don't do trees anymore, but I prefered fake just for that reason. Not to mention when pets decide to use it for there, well, personal business, or knock the tree over.

Plus real trees are such a fire hazard.

[Gillianren]

This year, we are getting not merely a real tree--I can't abide the fake ones--but a live one. After all, I have somewhere to plant it after the holidays this year.

Yeah, yeah, I know--Christmas tree. But the tradition has Pagan roots.

[Pleiades]

Are you ready for all that real xmas atmosphere, with people dressed in winter wear, Santa in his cold weather suit, and the icicles and snow and frost and all the other accoutrements?

Are you dreaming of a White Christmas™ (http://www.whitechristmasthemusical.com/intro.html)?

I took my sister to see that in San Francisco last year, then we went to Max's for dinner. The usual routine after going to the theatre. We had a great time. :)

I like to use the fake trees, it just depresses me to see a tree whither away, but I have made a living wreath of succulents (mainly rosettes of echeveria and haworthia). It came out very nice. I will have it for years to come.

[mickal555]

Are you ready for all that real xmas atmosphere, with people dressed in winter wear, Santa in his cold weather suit, and the icicles and snow and frost and all the other accoutrements?

Are you dreaming of a White Christmas™ (http://www.whitechristmasthemusical.com/intro.html)?

Heh,

It's more like a red christmas here :lol: inbetween the huge(but short) storms.

Clear all day but it's a white christmas at night (sky wise). :wall:
(unless it storms then it can be oclear by about 10-11)

[Parrothead]

Real tree. Will probably get one at the end of this week. Hmmm, I should take the top off one of the Blue Spruces in the backyard, it will open up some more of the sky for observing purposes.

[Van Rijn]

This year, we are getting not merely a real tree--I can't abide the fake ones--but a live one. After all, I have somewhere to plant it after the holidays this year.

Yeah, yeah, I know--Christmas tree. But the tradition has Pagan roots.

I never associated the tree with the religion. Normally, it's a real tree (I love the smell) but this year, nothing. It isn't much of a year for happy holidays in my family.

[Graybeard6]

Fake, but up all year long. We decorate it appropriately for each holiday - Valentines Day, Easter, first day of hurricane season, etc. This year we have a fake lighted palm tree on our balcony; I think it's ugly, but the neighbors love it.

[farmerjumperdon]

Real tree. Cut our own at a really fun place that has Conostaga wagon rides, a few animals for the kids to pet, snacks and beverages, a very cool humongous hay fort, etc. Brings out the kid in everybody.

[Captain Kidd]

We've been to Pumpkin Patches but had only though about hunting down a Christmas Tree Farm this year after getting a tree at Lowe's. (Cut this year as we're renting now with no easy place to plant.)

[Sticks]

Fake or Real they are both in the way and a waste of time and money.

I would not have one in my flat.

http://www.gsne03768.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/xmas01.gif

[farmerjumperdon]

Killer sheep.

[Click Ticker]

Real.

We go to a local place that has tractors pulling hay wagons out to the fields and we cut our own down. Usually pick a Douglas or Balsam Fir as they are a nice dark green, they have short needles, and their needles are soft (especially compared to those daggers that grow on spruce's).

Got a nine foot tree this year. Between that, the lights on the outside of the house, and the yard ornaments - we're really quite obnoxious.

[Fazor]

Sticks: should I assume that candy is called a "humbug"? :) Anyway I don't put a tree up because we don't have the room, plus my two hyperactive dogs would probably rip it to shreds anyway. but if i were to put one up it would be fake. just because it's easier to take care of. I grew up in the country, we had at least 3 dozen pine trees on our property, don't need on in the house as well.

[Trebuchet]

Fake, but up all year long. We decorate it appropriately for each holiday - Valentines Day, Easter, first day of hurricane season, etc. This year we have a fake lighted palm tree on our balcony; I think it's ugly, but the neighbors love it.

I've been wanting to do a year-round tree for years! The cats would love it -- they sleep under there. Fit it out with a basic set of white lights and add different colored ones as appropriate -- red for Valentines day, Red and Blue for the Fourth of July, etc. Decorate with hearts for Valentines, perhaps tombstones for Memorial Day, and so on. Not sure what to do with the long dry spell through the summer, however.

I've been a little surprised at the number of "no tree" responses in the poll.

[Lianachan]

Fake for me - would never consider killing a tree for that purpose. In fact, I have a pine in my garden which I've grown (for 8 years now) from seed.

[TheOncomingStorm]

here at work their try put a fake from walmart that won't even stand up.

[Spacewriter]

Fake. Because we have cats who love to pull the tree down. Last year we bought a really cool little plastic tree with fiber optic lights... kinda looks like this one:

http://www.homeandyards.com/images/products/big/61215.jpg

[mugaliens]

I love real Christmas trees, and would much rather go through the pain of selecting one, keeping it watered, cleaning up the needles, as well as the sap all over my hands, than going with a fake tree, but this Christmas I'm visiting my parents! Since their tree is fake, I answered "fake."

Ask me again next year!

[mugaliens]

Fake. Because we have cats who love to pull the tree down. Last year we bought a really cool little plastic tree with fiber optic lights... kinda looks like this one:

http://www.homeandyards.com/images/products/big/61215.jpg

Cat's who're made into Christmas tree ornaments aren't capable of pulling down the treen, particularly if they're evenly distributed around the tree's center of gravity!

:think:

[farmerjumperdon]

Real.

We go to a local place that has tractors pulling hay wagons out to the fields and we cut our own down. Usually pick a Douglas or Balsam Fir as they are a nice dark green, they have short needles, and their needles are soft (especially compared to those daggers that grow on spruce's).

Got a nine foot tree this year. Between that, the lights on the outside of the house, and the yard ornaments - we're really quite obnoxious.

Yessiree! My kind of Christmas spirit. I'm down from a previous high of about 130 strings of lights (well over 10K watts) to 84 strings this year. No C7's this year, but still have up 27 lines of C5's. I'd estimate about 5K watts. Other priorities got in the way and only had one weekend to go for it.

Covered wagons heh? Not in the Twin Cities Metro area are you?

[farmerjumperdon]

Fake for me - would never consider killing a tree for that purpose.

Because you feel there is a shortage of trees, or because you think they have feelings, or . . . ?

Just curious.

[farmerjumperdon]

Fake. Because we have cats who love to pull the tree down. Last year we bought a really cool little plastic tree with fiber optic lights... kinda looks like this one:

http://www.homeandyards.com/images/products/big/61215.jpg

Either your stand is too small or your cat is too big.

[Gillianren]

Fake for me - would never consider killing a tree for that purpose. In fact, I have a pine in my garden which I've grown (for 8 years now) from seed.

Here, there are fields and fields of them grown to be cut down. I'm not sure what happens to the ones that aren't sold, but it's almost certainly just as wasteful.

[Jim]

I voted "fake" even though I consider ours a real Christmas tree because it is artificial and I think that's what you meant.

For years we put up a real (once) live tree. I love the fragrance.

However, it became a hassle to find a good tree for a reasonable price. Also, to make it last you need to cut 1-2" off the trunk, which isn't as easy as it sounds. That usually means you either (1) leave the trunk too short for the stand or (2) have to trim off some of the lowest branches to make the trunk fit. Then you have to keep it watered (tough to do once the presents are placed under it) and clean up the needles that drop off and haul it to the curb (trees here are picked up separately and placed on the beaches to retard erosion). Too much hassle.

I read an article in the paper about businesses and colleges that lose trees each year to "midnight shoppers." Many of them now spray their trees with either long lasting dye or something aromatic, like fox urine or skunk juice.

[George]

Just put our fake one up last night. It took 30 minutes to pull the tree and all the other stuff down from the attic, then 10 minutes to stack and unfold the tree with the lights already installed! [Of course, one strand is out. :( ]

I once tried to replant a real one but it failed.

[Captain Kidd]

However, it became a hassle to find a good tree for a reasonable price. Also, to make it last you need to cut 1-2" off the trunk, which isn't as easy as it sounds. That usually means you either (1) leave the trunk too short for the stand or (2) have to trim off some of the lowest branches to make the trunk fit. A lot of places now do that for you. Very convenient even if it means one less excuse for me to break out the ol' chainsaw.


Then you have to keep it watered (tough to do once the presents are placed under it) and clean up the needles that drop off and haul it to the curb (trees here are picked up separately and placed on the beaches to retard erosion). Too much hassle.Growing up, the years we didn't get the balled trees, the cut ones would find themselves on the brush pile to be burned once it got big enough.

We use to go out and cut our own on occasion too. Growing up in farming country, the farmers (most being relatives) liked it when people cut the trees out of their fence rows. Saved them some hassle and wear and tear on the fences.

[Captain Kidd]

I once tried to replant a real one but it failed.Only about half of ours made it too. My father liked blue spruces and Middle Tennessee was just outside their optimal range.

[George]

Yes. We do have pine trees in our area and if they could make Christmas trees replantable then many, including me, would switch back to them.

[Gillianren]

You know, it's simply amazing to me how much cheaper real trees got when I moved up here! (And Thurston County actually, as I recall, runs a composting program for the things.)

[aurora]

I was reading yesterday that tinsel can affect WIFI (if you have WIFI in your house), which is another good reason for NOT using tinsel (it also makes cut trees difficult to compost or recycle).

[MAPNUT]

Real firs, always and forever. Growing up in Maine, we cut them on our own land. Now in Connecticut, we get them from a tree farm, still a fun outing. The mood among all the families out choosing their trees is as cheery as you'll ever find in a public place. As for killing trees, they're grown like any other crop. (I kill a lot of wheat.) If the time ever came when I couldn't get a real tree, I'd rather not have any.

I should add that the tree farm, 300 acres surrounded by housing tracts, would be worth a lot more subdivided and developed. Many thanks to the owners for keeping their modestly profitable business going for the enjoyment of thousands.

http://www.jonesfamilyfarms.com/

[Jim]

... (And Thurston County actually, as I recall, runs a composting program for the things.)

I had forgotten! They set up a program here where you take your real, dead tree to a composting location and they'll bag it and give it to you.

[Ronald Brak]

I was reading yesterday that tinsel can affect WIFI (if you have WIFI in your house), which is another good reason for NOT using tinsel (it also makes cut trees difficult to compost or recycle).

The British and Americans dropped tinsel to help defeat Nazi Germany.

[farmerjumperdon]

We burn ours in the spring. And other people's trees too. Everybody I know is aware that we welcome all burnables for our recreational fires. Usually get about 4 or 5 each year. I consider it an educational opportunity to demonstrate for the kids what can happen when a Christmas tree catches fire.

And it's just a little bit fun.

[gethen]

Real. They smell better and we can go to a spot where trees have been planted over the years for just this purpose and cut our own. Douglas fir is my favorite, when we can find one, but a blue spruce will do too.

[Parrothead]

This year's tree is a Fraser Fir. :)

[Spacewriter]

Either your stand is too small or your cat is too big.

Oh, they don't pullthe little one down. But, when we had a full-sized tree, they'd try to climb it and it would just fall over, no matter how well-anchored it was. We have VERY determined cats...

[George]

Everybody I know is aware that we welcome all burnables for our recreational fires. I just like the sound of that; we need more recreational fires.