Fake or Real?

OK I have 4 fake, I heat with firewood, real trees are a nightmare....

I make a little forest with different sized ones those fiber optic ones and put woodland creatures on it..

MB

I have a fake one but I also will probably not be putting it up this year. My son is somewhere in the Pacific/Indian Ocean. I put up the fake one at the office and that did it for me.

Sheila

I do real.  We had a fake one every year when I was growing up so I like having a real one now.  We usually get it around my birthday-which is on Saturday.  My favorite day of the year!!  And 2  years ago I didn't even think I would make it.

Anyway...I feel slightly guilty that I am cutting a tree down but not guilty enough not to do it.

Mine is a real Christmas Tree, it's just 'photosynthesis-challenged'. I grew up with evergreens, though - so I gotta have that smell, too. I go out and gather greens; enough to drape my front door, my wall-to wall length mantlepiece (common in old Craftsman homes) and every horizontal surface in my living and dining rooms. That really adds forest-y fragrance! My holiday decorations are in a simplified "Williamsburg style" (not what they really did back then but what has come to be known as that style) so it's mostly just greens and candles and fruit and so on.

http://www.history.org/christmas/dec_doors.cfm

Ever since she was about 11, it has been my daughter's job to do the tree lights because it gives me a blinding headache (no, really!) and it was my job to keep her supplied with warm spiced cider and/or from-scratch hot chocolate. When she went 3000 mi. away to school and finals lasted until mid-Dec that became problematic. I bought a pre-lit tree. What took me so long?!?

Oh - another easy cheat? 'Smell of the Tree' refresher oil. I've had a tiny bottle for probably five years and it's still half full. I put a dab on a couple of branch tips or on the trunk maybe once a week. It is available here for $9

http://tinyurl.com/2aht8j

and probably on Amazon in candles.

Gee, sorry for the long answer! I love Christmas!

Lisa

My sons and I have a fake tree (pre-lit).  For the smell, I use pine scented candles to give my home the pine tree scent.

This year is my first ever with a fake tree. It was bought more for practical reasons (we're not home enough this month to keep a real one watered properly) but I have to admit that I love it! I wish we could afford to buy one of the really nice ones but we got one at Lowe's for under $300 and it's gorgeous and looks incredibly real. Like Marin, our cats don't seem to care too much about this one compared to the real ones so that's a plus. I bought a Mistletoe candle at Yankee Candle and that helps put some of the missing scent in the air!

I missed the experience of picking out the tree this year, but with the cost of trees, this one will pay for itself in 3 years so that's worth it!

xoxo
Erica

New Tradition: Real tree. Pot and all. I get one about 3 or 4 ft tall, set it on a table with tiny white lights. And in the spring I plant it.

The year I was diagnosed, I had surgery a few days before Christmas. I don't have a fake tree and couldn't manage getting a real one from the tree lot. It was all I could do to simply buy a little potted one. Shortly after that, I was spending the time managing drain tubes and pain meds and trying to figure out what to do next. 

But that first little tree is doing well and someday I hope to have a forest of them! 

We always go out into our woods and find a little Charlie Brown tree that is being crowded out by its mother or sisters and bring it in. We, too, heat with wood but keep the tree on the other side of the room from the stove and have never had a problem. We have years worth of ornaments from pre-us (including old pieces of jewelry and junk that I made into ornaments one year with a friend/housemate) and each year we buy an ornament from our neighbor who is a fabulous glass blower (his studio sale is this weekend!). http://www.glassblower.info/Ed-Branson/Ed-Branson.html

Another neighbor is a big x-mas tree grower and this year one of their trees is going to be in the vice-president's palace.  http://www.cranstonschristmastreefarm.com/

I've collected Christmas ornaments since I was a teenager, so my daughter and I make a big deal about putting them on the tree every year. I do like the real tree, though.