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!! !!