The Great Christmas Tree Debate
 

Assumptions:

The fake tree is super high quality and looks real even under close visual and tactile scrutiny. It's cost is equal to buying real trees for 3 years, and it comes with a 3 warranty.....so let's eliminate cost factors and appearance from consideration.

do you go real or fake?

Real cuz it keeps some agricultural land open until they legalize pot.

LOL griff.

i go with the fake tree because it is so hard to keep a real tree looking good for the 3-4 weeks we like to keep the tree up. I hate having to replace the tree the week before christmas so i finally gave up 2 years ago and bought a really nice tree in the post christmas sale. I've been very happy. storing it is kind of a pain in the arse though.

***wait! election fraud! my chad stuck. or i'm an idiot and i pushed the wrong button. take your pick.***

I stopped putting up a tree after the first year I had a cat.
Before that, I used to go with my dad and brothers to cut our own, but now the 'rents go fake.

I love a real tree, but it seems kind of sad to cut one down only to throw it away later. Plus, they grow up on those "production tree farms" without room to move. ;)

But I love the way Griff thinks.

Pot needs hotter, sunnier climates than the northern pines. Buy real trees because trees are a carbon sink and consuming them locks up carbon for a long time and will thus reduce greenhouse gas.

Real trees, because it's not Christmas if you don't kill some living thing.

Real, but if I lived in the South West, I'd probably go with fake.

Fake trees have come a long way. They can really look good now.

I have noticed that around here at least, it seems that the tree lots get a big shipment of real trees early in the holiday season. They put a bunch out on display to be sold, and the rest go in a pile in the back. As they sell the display trees, they pull more from the storage in the back. Some lots appear to use sprinklers to keep the stored trees out back somewhat fresh, but I don't think all do. What this means, is that as the season progresses, the real trees for sale are dryer and dryer.

We normally put our tree up in mid to late December, so what we have learned to do is buy a real tree early on, and stand it up in a big bucket of water in the back yard. It stays there in the bucket of water for a couple of weeks, until we are ready to set it up inside. They last a lot longer that way. Plus it's colder outside, so that helps too.

I'd give Pioneer Seed 5 years to develop Northern Dope (tm).

Shawnee is right though, free range trees are better for Mother.

damn....i forgot to put ours in a bucket of water!

what a noob!

My family always had fakes. I wouldn't know what to do with a real one. (Maybe leave candles lit next to it overnight?)

It will keep you toasty warm.

As a kid, had a fake. Mom has a series of pictures with us kids standing in front of it paritally put up, showing how much taller we are every year. Eventually that one bit the dust, then we got real ones.

When Red and I were first married, we used his grandmothers old fake tree. Think wooden stick with 25-30 wire branches sticking out. You could see right through that thing no matter how hard you tried to fluff up the branches. It was so bad, it was awesome. Used that for a few years, then when we could afford it, bought a nice new fake tree that we've had for 5 or 6 years now.

Since we are gone for a significant portion of Christmas, it would be silly to have a real tree. No one to take care of it. We have and frequently use our real wood fireplace in the room where we put it up. A real tree would be an honest fire hazard. No disposal issues when we are done with it except putting it all back in the origianl box. That in itself is a great brain teaser and excuse to use duct tape. It has totally paid for itself, plus we can garage sale it when we are done with it.

My parents cut a spruce from their place in West Virginia, where they grow like weeds. They smell great, but they exact a terrible punishment on the delicate skin of whoever puts on the lights (me).

Make sure you recut the bottom or it won't suck up any water, but will be great tinder.

Oh, and real is the best - Douglas Fir too - Love the smell!! !!

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Fakey McFakesalot over here. I put real trees in the same category of real pets; too much damn cleanup involved. Sap is the work of the devil, no doubt. And as I believe has been mentioned, in hot climates half the time the real trees look like shit anyway.

Ours has held up for 5, maybe 6 years now, and still looks great.

People should have whatever sort of tree they want. If people don't feel good about their tree then it's their right to do what they want with it. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't feel good about their tree because of what society tells us all trees look like.

Nobody would ever argue that we don't have a inalienable right to a real tree.

Oh I'm sure somebody could argue about it. That's why it's not really a right, because not everyone would agree. If we all agreed, then it would be a right.

Just ask Radar

lol! Jinx likes the link!!!
Please...help me spread the gospel of Jim Gaffigan!!! In fact- buy the whole routine..."Beyond the Pale"......hilarious! Good Christmas idea for a friend with a good sense of humor actually!

JINX!!!!!!!!! Fabulous! Laughed 'til I cried.

As to the tree: Fake in our house. I decorate the day after Thanksgiving, disassemble the day after new year's. No way could I keep it alive that long.. and I'm not cleaning up after it. Regarding the pets: I actually put our ex-pen around the tree this year. Between the cats and the puppies... fahgedaboudit.

Maybe I'll hang candy canes from the gate. Festive!

You think American Christmas traditions are silly?
Australians do the same things ... sit inside at 2 pm and feast on roast turkey, roast vegetables, ham, cake, set fire to a pudding, wine, port/sherry ... but we do it in the middle of a blazing hot summer day that is maybe 39 degrees centigrade (100+ Fahrenheit). :eyebrow:
Shops paint pretend snow on their windows on days where the roads are becoming sticky from the heat. And pity the poor bugger who has to wear the Santa suit anywhere that isn't airconditioned.

Bwahahaha!
Inheriting the Christmas traditions from a different hemisphere!

On the subject of tradition, I was so proud of Leicester for its multi-faith approach to festivities. Now I find it followed me to London. Okay I saw no local (official) celebration of Diwali or Eid, but a 30 foot Menora was erected in Trafalgar Square (central London) as well as a Christmas tree AND a nativity scene. I took a couple of pics, but they are even worse than the ones I've already posted of my days out.

We missed the free potato latkes and chocolate coins, but I was glad to see it nevertheless.

What's happened to your skills, SG? Your earlier pictures and videos, were great.

We're having bbq and seafood for lunch with my Dad this year. After that we'll probably have a swim in the dam...maybe suck on a few mangoes and then have a watermelon fight. After that we might need another swim.

We gave away the hot lunch thing years ago in our family. It's just too stupid for words in my opinion.

Fake tree, with some natural pine wreaths around for their scent -- for the sake of conserving trees, mainly. Incidentally for not getting dropped needles all over the floor from door to living room.

Also, a wreath for your car's grill, according with the graceful custom that has grown up in the last few decades. This may as well be artificial for durability.

Conserving trees? Sustainable farming, dude.

Not only that, it's sustainable farming that's good for global warming, growing a crop that is a carbon sink over long periods of time.

Remember what happened to Dave. She plugged in the lights. Saw the spark. Whole house was engulfed in something over 5 minutes. They lost all pets. They were lucky to get out alive.

A device called an AGFI or arc fault circuit breaker will detect and quash such sparks. This device is now required on all electrical circuits that server bedrooms (as of 2002). Installing one for the circuit that lights a Christmas tree is also a good idea. Live Christmas trees are that dangerous.

Yeah, theres always a huge menora in Leeds too. Looks gorgeous lit up.

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree
I'm singing to a pine tree! (x2)

The winter air is full of frost
I fear my marbles all are lost...

My friends don't think it's odd because
They all believe in Santa Claus

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
I'm singing to a pine tree!"

bought a fakie this year after 25 years of no-kill Christmases, (2 of those years we bought live and planted them). but it's an after-holiday sale item and still in the box.

at least i hope it's in the box. perhaps i should verify that before next year.

Need one built into the wall, like a Murphy Bed.

New question:

How long do you keep the decorations up?

When I was a kid, we put the tree up on Christmas Eve, and took it down just after Epiphany (holiday commemorating the day the wise men came.) That's January 6th this year. Now, we typically take the decorations down the weekend following New Year's day.

When do you take your decorations down?

After Epiphany

I had put up only real trees in the past, that's what my family always did, but they were such a mess to clean up later so a fake one is now gracing the living room. However, it's one of those that had lights pre-strung and last year I totally unplugged everyone and couldn't get them figured out this year. I had partial top, middle and bottom lit. I was in a dismal state. No christmas spirit, :( whatsoever. Finally, bought two boxes and put them up. My christmas tree was decorated on the 23rd. Guess I'll take it down Saturday or Sunday.

decorations must be down before the Super Bowl. The tree stays up until it starts losing needles badly...or the last weekend in January.

that's just cuz we're lazy though.

"Ya'll" see mine? What? look closer!