Christmas Trees

[mom]

For those of you who put up a Christmas tree - what kind? Real or artificial; and if it is real do you go to the woods for a free one; the tree lot in town or to a tree farm.

For years we have gone to the tree farm near us and usually pay about $35.00 for a 6 foot one that they cut for us and mount in our tree stand.

This year I am seriously considering buying a norfolk pine and decorating it. If I wanted another tree in my yard I would go with some kind of conifer but I have too many trees as it is.

[mtwildflower]

We always put up a fresh tree. I tried to put up a fake one a few years ago and ended up taking it down and taking it back to the store. Just couldn't do it.

We live along the Rocky Mountain front and so we cut one down every year. I wouldn't say it's 'free' since we usually have to drive 40 miles and get a tag (usually a couple of bucks...can't poach a tree doncha know) but we make a day of it. I avoid buying them, although when I have, I look for a 4-H club or FFA chapter to get it from. They're fresher and being an alumni of both 4-H and FFA, I don't mind giving them some money. I also know when they cut their trees and I won't find one around here fresher unless I get it myself.

I like Doug Firs the best. If I can find one with cones still attached, then bonus!

And, my SIL works for an artificial flower company in Atlanta called The Heeny Company. Today, I got a Fed Ex'd package from her and there with all kinds of decorations for our tree. I was in Atlanta for five weeks August through September and visited her at her shop for a couple of days. They had all their Christmas decorations and trees up since they are a wholesale company and buyers buy then. I mentioned I loved the peppermint stick tree and that that was how we would decorate this year. Whadya know? She sent a bunch of those decorations and ribbion.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t202/mtwildflower/pepperminksticktree.jpg

So now I'm excited to get our tree!

[rideaway]

Normally we get a live tree, last couple of years couldn't get up the hill to cut one so we bought one at the store. They are a renewable resource. However last two years they were throwing needles everywhere from the minute we put them up (I like to put them up early). So, we may go ahead and buy a fake one this year...

[leera]

I've been using the same artificial tree for years.....I am not setting it up this year as we are only home a few hours a day,so it's not worth it.

We always got a real tree when I was growing up,then my Mom would get sick and break out in a rash,followed swiftly by my brother....

One of the first things I did when I started working was buy a nice fake tree for my Mom......she has not broken out or gotten sick during Christmas since then......

[rivahmom]

I use a fake because it is too much of a pain to dispose of a real one here. I've had mine for seven years and it is still in prestine condition. We put ours up the day after Thanksgiving and have a tradition of making new ornaments for it every year. I do like the concept of a live tree that can be planted at the end of the season and may consider it in the future.

[Shamrock1121]

We use a fake 4-foot "Charlie Brown" type tree. The only thing we take off are the small white candles that are in the antique German candle holders (no other lights). We slip a plastic bag over it and store it - decorations and all.

The years we had a real tree everyone in the house got sick from all the mold and whatever else they harbor.

The first settlers in the area (central Kansas) used an elm tree sapling decorated with cotton (to look like snow on the branches, and foil-wrapped apples. We did a similar tree in 1975 when we were broke, right after hubby got out of college, and it's still the tree that gives us a smile when we tell the story. :D

-Karen

[proverbs31girl]

We put up a real tree, always have and hopefully always will. Since trees are about $75.00 at the local lots this year, I bought one for $29.00 at the local grocer and it seems very fresh. For the rest of my decorations, thats usually just a trip around the garden and I spend a day making boxwood wreaths for the windows.

[WileyCoyote]

While the kids were growing up we always had a real tree; it was our Thanksgiving weekend ceremony to go out and buy one. We would buy from the smaller stores when we could, but they are cut six weeks before they are shipped and would lose needles. Then for the last ten years we bought from tree farms. One we went to for the first time - the tree we brought home was COVERED in HOG LICE! ("The Christmas the Tree Smelled Like Raid") We never went there again, and then one of our friends had a farm so we went there.

Since the kids are grown and gone, we have a BIG seven foot artificial tree that we've put up fpr the past seven years. I love it! No "holes" to try to cover or fill, and if some ornaments (many are handmade and collected over the years) are too heavy, we can bend the end of the branch up to hold them. It has 500 lights on it, and I use ribbon instead of garland, and tinsel to match. This year it is red and gold (I save the ribbon and tinsel every year). But we have holographic and blue-and-silver for themes too.

My son has an artificial tree decorated with "Beer cans of the World". He's into themed trees too.

I also have two ceramic trees, a small burlap-base-wrapped tree, and a small rotating fiber optic tree, all of which grace different areas of the house with their own themes. That plus all of the unusual lights (we buy the weird) on the outside, and our house is "unique" - or, Griswoldian. ::) ;D

I HATE cleaning up after Christmas, and the artificial trees are easy to strip and box in a couple of hours. I have candles that smell like "real" trees and that's good enough for me.

My BF got a divorce and was too busy (and too old - his kids were grown with their own children) to waste time and energy to go out and cut a tree. When his kids found out that he bought a fake one, they told him they would not come to his house for Christmas. ::) (I told him that if he had beat them more often when they were little they wouldn't be trying to run his life now.) He kept the artificial tree and - surprise surprise! - they showed up anyway. MHO - put up what you like and want to/are able to deal with. If I had a closet big enough I would put my tree in a kid's wagon, put a sheet over it and wheel it into a closet in between times!

[rideaway]

Well, I kept looking for a fake tree, but new cost too much, and the used ones were even expensive on craigslist and such, unless I wanted to drive 3 hours round trip. Was complaining about it at work and a co-worker mentioned she was moving from her three bedroom home into a small single wide trailer and had an 8' fake tree (no lights, but hey, I've got lights) that she would give me for free! We got it today, got it set up and while it doesn't have the good smell, a few fir boughs in the house will take care of that, and it looks pretty dang good!

And my husband says I talk too much ;D

[GoodDaughter]

Did you mention to your hubby how much money you saved by 'talking too much"? ;) *I sometimes let family know when I'm looking for something. I've never gotten a Christmas tree, but I have gotten a lot of other really useful things in the past---partially used cans of paint, I think it was 3 or 4 different shades of white, some flat, some gloss, mixed them together in a 5 gal bucket and painted a couple of rooms for free. Just the other day I was kicking myself because one of my brothers was over at my grandmother's cleaning out the big garage. My uncle passed away two months ago, and my grandfather several years ago, so the garage was basically crammed with stuff. A lot of it was no longer good, though. Anyway, for some reason when I was talking to him on the phone one day...."Hey, whatcha been doing", and he says "Oh, been at granny's, *cleaning out the garage, a lot of Pop's and Buddy's stuff is just ruined, so I'm going thru and sorting it out"....well, it didn't register in my brain the way it normally should have. I normally would have told him "anything you think I might use, let me know and I"ll come get it so you don't have to throw it away". And he can usually predict what kinds of stuff I like and find useful. But nope, didnt' register in my mind at all and I missed out on about 2 doz. glass 1 gallon pickle jars with the lids. *:'( *I really could have used those, too, but dumbo me, when he was telling me what he was doing it just didn't register. Must have been that day I was up for 30+ hours straight...

Back to the original topic.... I've had a little table top tree the past few years. Just me, so no real reason to go overboard. I sometimes wish I was married again, because the holidays seemed so much more meaningful when I was. I used to put up 2 or 3 big trees (the 7 ft. tree in the den right in front of the front window, white lights, ornaments were old German glass icicles, snowflakes, strands of gold beads, glass birds and butterflies) and two 6 ft. trees in the living room/kitchen/dining room, and they had colored lights with nature inspired decorations like strings of wood beads, garlands of red berries, pinecones of all sizes, burr oak acorns and buckeyes in bunches, silk poinsettias, and wax apples). Then I'd have a few smaller trees that were 2 1/2 ft tall trees and several table top trees usually just white lights on those, and of course the Belsnickles had their own trees... And THEN there were all the outdoor trees, there was one on the back porch by the door, and a few of the wire ones with the white lights in the yard with the herd of light up deer.... *Gosh, I miss it.

[flatwater]

The year was 1991 and My forrest burned down. I went and got an old burned pine limb. We set it on the mantle and put lights on it. It was my way of saying " you can burn me down but ya can't burn me out.
flatwater

[Dawgus]

We bought an artificial tree when we bought this house together before we were married. New life-new house-new tree. Every year it goes up the day after Thanksgiving, and every year we all get new ornaments pertaining to our lives this year. For instance, with our first chickens this year, Lisa has a chicken ornament. Mine is a crosscut saw since I've taken to using one rather than a chainsaw. My stepdaughter got a big key with "First House" on it since she bought her first house this year. My stepson's is a big black guitar since he's so taken with that rockstar game. It's a great tradition we started. Looking back at the ornaments from years past always bring up great memories.

[fwtxcitywoman]

We have an 800 light artificial tree purchased at Lowes last year 75% off...it was still $65, but it is big, full and gorgeous.

I just can't see killing a tree for my "entertainment"

[MNMOM]

We have an 8ft. artificial tree and we've had it a long time. What I like about it is not cleaning up all the needles that fall off a real one. I use to find pine needles down in the carpet a long time after the tree was taken down.

This year it is trimmed in white and gold. I usually have miniature nutcrackers on it that I hand painted, but I thought I would do something different this year.

[bassntrout]

I just got a great 6' Balsam tree 50% off at Wallymart on Friday-- $15 and looks great!