cranky old dude

We went out on our annual trip to the south side of the county today to harvest our Christmas Tree. I was a little perplexed when so many of the staff offered to help me put it into our car. It was a little heavy but not all that bad.



Well, when it came time to pull that sucker back out it felt like it had doubled in weight. When I mentioned to my lovely bride that the tree seemed really heavy this year she quickly shot back "It must be real wood.". I almost dropped the tree on the ground as we had a good laugh together over that line.

I think it's time to invest in an artificial tree for next year as I'm no longer the young woodsman anymore. Sigh. How many of you have an artificial tree? How well and why do you like them?

Happy Trails

stapfam

If left to me and the wife- we would be putting up the plastic version again this year. Unfortunately---I have two daughters that will not allow it to ever come out of the loft again. I thought that this year would be the ideal time to go "Fake" as both daughters are now married and left home- completely (Or very nearly but as they both have "Stuff" in their old bedrooms-They may still be here)

Last Tuesday- a real tree appeared in the back garden- The christmas Fairies have struck again.

alanfleisig

Nice Cheby. You the original owner?

rae

I'll get a real tree until I absolutely can't manage it, even if I have to pay a neighborhood teen to set it up. Got to support local agriculture, you know!

jppe

real trees help global warming!! and smell good too!!

recycled55

An artificial tree looks just like what you paid for it. Get a cheap tree and it looks cheap. Spend a few extra bucks on it and it looks a lot better. Its a perfect example of getting what you pay for.
AB

JanMM

Fake for me!

stringbreaker

We have used a fake tree until this year. My wife is semi retired only working part time jobs now and wanted to do a real tree. We cut it last Sunday and put it up on Tuesday. My wife and daughter put all hand made and home made ornaments on it. They strung popcorn and cranberries and put them on and the only thing they didn't make were the lights. Seems Mrs Stringbreaker and little (well she is 18) lady stringbreaker wanted to channel Martha Stewart this year. It looks really nice though. All I did was put the tree in the stand.

curbtender

I broke down two years ago and went artificial. Prelighted, still weighs a ton. Doesn't have a fragrance (-). I don't have to water or break out $50-100 a year. What fit on the tree last year, still fits. No traditional tree run (-). No needles for 4 weeks. You know what, it's still christmas either way.

DnvrFox

This is as good as it gets around here. Takes about 5 minutes to set up, cost about $19.96 3 years ago, and meets its purposes!

maddmaxx 

Nice tree Dnvr. My sort of tree...............................However, not Mrs Maxx's cup of tea. She loves Christmas, the tree goes up on or before Thanksgiving and stay untill the middle of January, so it's high dollar artificial all the way.

We're just so commercial...................

RonH

We stopped putting up a Christmas tree (real or artificial) about 7 or 8 years ago. All the kids are gone so why go thru all the work and hassle for just the two of us.
Our decorating consists of getting out old Christmas photos, (real) candles, wreath on the front door, a 15" decorated ceramic tree, an angel collection, and three wooden pyramids from Germany -- similar to this.

SaiKaiTai

Sure, we put the ol' Chanukah bush up every year even though it's just us two (and always has been)
We used to put up a real tree but with my allergies and asthma, it got pretty debilitating.
Went out and bought and prelighted fake 5 or 6 years ago.
With all the xmas crap on it, you can hardly tell it's fake.
Besides, who cares? It's all about the joy, anyway.

stringbreaker

Cranky Old Dude: Your post sounds like a Dave Barry column I just about fell off the chair when I read it because for another thing its sounds just like something I would do. Its our turn to have the big family Christmas dinner ( about 20 this year) so thats why Mrs Stringbreaker and Junior Miss are going all out. Next year we will probably go back to the fake tree. I must admit the house really looks great. I'm glad she has all that excess artistic energy because if it were me I doubt it would look so perfect.

qcpmsame 

We do a real tree here. Used to cut a fresh one but most of the tree farms got severly damaged in 04 and 05 by hurricanes.

Bill

waldowales

When the last kid left home, we got a fake. I put it up today. I tried to get off with just putting up the top half, but the missus insisted I put the bottom half up too. Feels like it weighs around 500 pounds. Lights are on it, but wife insists on putting on about a hundred or so ornaments, many of them made by the kids when they were in elementary school.
If it was just me, it would be like DnvrFoxs' only smaller.

fly7hotel

We got a fake the first Christmas after our our son was born (I was 45 at the time) and he's only known a fake. It's a good one, spent $250 for it I think and frankly except for storage space it was a good choice. Just as much fun to hang ornaments on, lights already strung. No complaints.

Beverly

Since the kids left home I haven't put up a tree. I haul out all my snowmen and candles to decorate the house for the holidays.

When the kids were home we had an artificial tree...I'm allergic to the live ones Here's the old artifical one.

Artkansas 

I'm having none this year. No income, and nothing to decorate them with if I got one. Besides, where would I put the bicycles to put a tree in my apartment.

But if I did get one, there is nothing like the smell of a douglas fir, shiny glass globes, twinkling lights and lots of tinsel. Christmas trees are the original light show.

cranky old dude

Thank You. I bought it in '01 from my next door neighbor as he was liquidating his estate. He bought it new in '88. With only 80K miles on her, "Old Blue" runs well and still gets 16-17 mpg in the city. That's a 305 ci V8.

gcottay

It's been a while, but for years we enjoyed ditch trees.

In a rural areas around here underbrush accumulates in ditches until the county road crews come by and slash everything out. We enjoyed finding spindly little trees and giving them a good albeit temporary home.

Dchiefransom

We've got an artificial tree with lights built in. It's the same model my wife's parents had. I want live trees we cut ourselves. I haven't disagreed with her over it since her parents both passed on.

BlazingPedals

The way I see it, keeping a tree alive helps fight global warming. I've got something like 65 trees on my property, but my Christmas tree is artificial. If I want the nice smell, well, there are plenty of broken branches with every ice storm we get; I can just bring in a few.

BluesDawg

I was a die hard hold out for real trees until a few years ago. I gave in and bought a nice artificial that looks just like the Frasier furs I used to get. The biggest advantage is how much better I breathe throughout the holiday season. I never realized just how allergic I was to the real trees until we stopped getting them.

The fake tree goes up later today.

rm -rf

One of my co-workers has a small storeroom for Christmas items. They just put the tree in there, all trimmed, and close the door until they bring it out again for the next year.