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OT: fake or real?

Marigold

For the ones who put up and decorate the Christmas trees, I have a question, which one are you having this year? Do you decorate it the same way every day or try to switch things around, decorations, colors, live vs fake. Since we got married, we've bought a tree each year but the first Christmas, when I wanted something out of the ordinary and we got a white tree (decorated it with blue and silver). I love the smell and look of the real pines, but decided that the mess is not worth dealing with, we also have a toddler that eats everything off the floor and I won't be able to deal with the falling needles on a constant basis LOL. My husband hates the 'getting rid of the tree' part as well, it involves major vacuuming and still, we find needles months later (no joke..). The dried up trees look so sad sitting at the street later on anyways.
So, i plan on decorating the white tree once more, this time in red and gold (I think we have enough red/gold/green ornaments), What are you doing this year?
Oh, how I wish we had a backyard, one year we got a small tree in a pot that we tried planting later on in a park but it didn't last

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16 replies

Latest reply was from bj1111

shana

Veteran

We get a real tree every year. I like the way that it smells and the whole process of going to the tree farm to cut one down has become a family tradition. I know the first year we just bought one that was pre-cut and I found that it needled alot more. We have a large, wooded backyard so when we're done, we just throw it back there. The funny thing is that we've noticed that the tree stays green for a couple of months afterwards!!

I do the same ornaments every year - a dark burgundy red along with silver/white/pearl. I actually do have an entire set of ornaments in a light blue color for a silver/blue theme but somehow when the time comes, I never feel like switching it up on our main tree. I do end up using the other colored ornaments on either a small fake tree that my son has in his room or on this modern metal tree/sculpture that we usually put in our dining room.

BTW, I am on the hunt for a few things to change the look for this year - a handful of gigantic bulbs for example. Gotta keep the tree up to date!

Maya

Veteran

Team Fake Tree. We have had fake trees since I was a kid and I am all for it. Never had the desire for a real tree. The process just seems so cruel. Chopping down the tree, trimming it to the point of treenorexia, then leaving it for dead on the side of the road. No thanks!

I don't "design" trees. I design enough in my professional life. The ornaments we use are all bought or given to us at specific times for specific reasons. They all have memories attached to them. Needless to say, they do not coordinate in any way, and that's just fine. The point of our tree is to remember those moments while putting it up, not to just be pretty or win best in show. Others probably couldn't appreciate our drag queen of a tree, but they just aren't part of the club

Queen Mum

Veteran

Team real. I love the smell of the pine. We only put up a tree about every other year though as we are never around for Christmas. This year nobody complained so we opted for a no tree year.
We decorate with the same decorations every year.

Misia

Veteran

Fake for me, I made this one and put it up high on my buffet, so my little kitty can't get to it.

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Barbara

Veteran

Sorry you were so traumatized about 'real' trees, Maya!

My son lives on the family farm, which is a working tree farm - no carnage involved!
For many years now: I cull out a healthy 5 foot tall living fur tree, including a large and carefully wrapped root ball. By culling, I take a tree in a crowded area that might not have an opportunity to grow tall until transplanted! The tree is then placed into a special (deep) pre-dug area in my back yard, near my red winter-blooming camelia and bird feeder. It is then decorated tastefully with minimal clear crystal outdoor lights. After Christmas, it is lovingly returned to the soil in an area where it can thrive, guaranteed. Completely earth friendly!

For the house, I have a cute, fiber-optic tree for my sun room, where the presents are. I decorate it only with ornaments that my son made in German kindergarten. They are beyond adorable and very special!

Maya, although you may not be consciously aware of it, you are 'designing' every second of your life, especially if you have an artistic eye. It's hard for me to shut down the creativity; I am permanently and continuously inspired.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

We have a fake one. After several pre-lit trees that were ruined by my cat's tenacity and masochistic tendencies to chew out the lightbulbs and ruin them, we switched to a fiber optic tree. It's a little one (5 ft), and I hope to go a little larger in the coming years, but I do love the fiber optics. You get all of the twinkle and glow of light without the hassle of all the wires. We have it hung with small red and green balls and handmade straw snowflakes. I may add another set of balls in gold this year- it's looking a little bare.

biscuitsmom

Veteran

We have 2 fake trees that we rotate having up, although for the last few years we've gone with just the one...its about 3 feet tall and although shaped like a traditional xmas tree, it is made from red poinsettia leaves and has fiber optic lights that turn different colors in waves steadily...green, red, purple, gold....its really very pretty and doesnt need anything except plugging in!

Steph

Veteran

I don't have a tree in my condo (no good place to put it, and I can only imagine the field day the cats would have), but at my parents' home we do exactly what Maya does. We've always had a fake tree, and we do have some purchased ornaments (my dad got them--they are all clear glass, some with a little gold edging), but the large majority are ornaments that have been given to us as gifts or that we made when we were children. I love our tree, and even though we are in our 30s, my brother and I always compete to put our special ornaments in the best possible place.

MsMary

Veteran

Team fake pre-lit! We are a little space-challenged and I bought a tall slim tree a few years ago and I just love it! We have a ridiculously huge collection of ornaments going all the way back to my grandmother's collection.

We're skipping the tree this year, though. DH is out of town, plus the spot that would normally be for the tree is full of furniture that is designated for the guest room, which isn't the guest room yet because DS hasn't yet shipped out for the Marines and I don't have the heart to get rid of his furniture while he's still here! LOL

Sarah

(website)

Veteran

I grew up with real, my husband grew up with fake. We got married and after one year of fake, we switched to real. O:)
My mom always decorated our tree with beautiful crystal snowflakes, gold accessories, and white lights. I like simple trees, so ours is white lights, silver strands for garland that have crystals on them, apple green and orangey red fabric balls, silver and red shiny balls, and silver photo frames of us and our little babies. We also have little silver twiggy looking deer from Pottery Barn. In fact, most of our tree is from there (day after Christmas sale one year!) This year we are adding a simple ornament to remember our Jasper boy. It's a small crown with an even smaller fish hanging from it with his name printed on it.

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Sarah

(website)

Veteran

PS: Our tree does make a mess, because my little gremlins like to climb it. It's a game to them. But it's okay, I can sweep every day so they can have a little fun.
Abigayle is just WAITING for us to leave her alone with Tree.

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catgirl

Veteran

We get a real tree. I grew up with real, DH grew up with fake. Now we disagree - I want a fake tree (for ecological reasons), he wants real. After untangling the lights this weekend, he is ready to reconsider the pre-lit fake tree.

I have all our childhood ornaments, as neither of my siblings do Christmas. Plus we have collected several of our own over the years. Our tree has no theme and no scheme; it's just a matter of crowding as much glitz onto it as possible. My son leaves no ornament unhung - this year we ran out of HOOKS!

Here's a photo from the early stages of decorating...

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LeahJanes

In Australia you don't get the option, nobody grows the pines, so everyone has fake trees. So seeing the real trees up everywhere is quite the novelty for me now I am in the States.

At the moment I am tossing up between the little rosemary bushes they have trimmed to look like pines at Whole Foods or a small proper real Christmas tree. However, my carefully curated and lovingly bought ornament collection is sitting in a box in Australia while I am here in the States. So that means any tree I get this year will have popcorn garlands and some scabbed lights which is kinda sad. But I have to say, nothing beats that piney smell.

Becky

Veteran

Ever since my childhood, the family tradition has been to travel to the ranch where my grandma grew up, and cut the family tree (a pinon pine, usually about 7-1/2 ft.) from one of the pastures. We continue that tradition with my own children, even though I am somewhat allergic to the trees now. We decorate with multicolored lights and a mishmash of ornaments that were given as gifts (such as "yo-yo" wreaths handmade by my late aunt), childhood ornaments (little gold "tree twinkle" ornaments with my date of birth!), and ornaments bought to commemorate a special occasion (a vacation to Yellowstone, the birth of each of our girls). Each ornament has a special memory and the tree itself brings back memories of childhood Christmas tree "hunts." Our kitties are actually very well-behaved around the tree. Occasionally they'll bat an ornament off onto the floor (we hang the breakable ones up high), but usually just curl up on the tree skirt like little packages!

Marigold

It's great to hear about all the traditions in other people's homes, and thanks for the pictures! When I was growing up in Europe, we never had a real tree, always the fake ones, that didn't even try to pretend they were real! We decorated it pretty though, all the handmade chains out of colorful papers, cut out snowflakes and especially, my late Grandpa's egg shell creations, he'd make witches, clowns, snowmen - I wish I still had them, they're definitely heirloom pieces (I hope one day my mom will share with me LOL).
Once my daughter gets bigger, I plan on making decorations with her as well, love the 'handmade' look of the tree :).

bj1111

Veteran

team real...grew up with fake. never again as long as i'm the one putting up the tree.