16 years. The tree lasted for 16 years.
And then, without any warning whatsoever, the base busted and the tree fell over with a smack, spreading it’s hundreds of fake pine needles all over the living room.
Don’t worry, no one was hurt…and in fact some were even excited enough about the Christmas tree floor smacking drama to take a moment to pose behind the busted tree.
I had bought that tree the day after our first Christmas together as a married couple 16 years ago. I was so proud of that purchase…our first Christmas tree. For half price. So as silly as it is, I was a little bit sad and sentimental about throwing the tree away and thought instead of trying to rig the base up with some duct tape. You give a mama some duct tape and she can fix anything right? I figured though that it would only hold up for a few hours, or until a nerf soccer ball went sailing through the room…whichever came first. (Yeah, it would be the soccer ball.)
We made do with a smaller fake tree this year and will see what we find for half price after Christmas this year.
But that leads me to the question of the day. Are you a fake tree family…or a real tree family?
We’ve always done fake. It seems easier to me. But it doesn’t smell nearly as good.
They should start making scented fake trees.
Growing up I always had a fake tree, my husband (farm boy) always had real. When we got married (15 years ago) we decided to go with real. I love everything but the needles on the floor. We get a Frasier Fir and it doesn’t drop needles very quickly and they are soft to the touch.
We use a fake.It is easier and cheaper that way. I love the pic!
Funny we had a similar experience. Our tree was fully decorated and almost fell over, because the base cracked. My husband went to Lowes and picked up a base for around $12. Our tree was my inlaws tree for a long time before they passed it on to us. So in answer to your question we totally are a fake tree family. (-:
We were a fake tree family until our $20 black friday tree started looking like it had been through a wood chipper. We got our first real tree last year and did the same this year, but after finding 8 or 9 spiders and a slug in the living room, I think I am going to be out looking for a tree the day after Christmas!
Lately we have gone with the fake tree. I do miss the real tree smell but I stave off the pangs with a wreath made fresh each year from some trees out back of the house.
I always ALWAYS had a real one growing up. And to this day I would have insisted on having a real one but my husband really can’t breath around them… I think everyone should have a real one at least once! They are great because you don’t have to store them. they don’t “go out.” they smell nice. your husband gets to use his saw to even out the bottem so it stands nice. you and your kids get to go out and pick a new one every year. we always did it on the 14th so it would be nice and fresh!
Love real trees and have always had real trees. Especially like going to the Christmas tree farm, riding the hay tractor out to somewhere in the field and cutting down the tree ourselves. More expense in the long run and a little messy. They also don’t always hold the heavier ornaments as well. But you can’t duplicate the look or smell of the live tree and the fun picking it out!
always real!! I love the smell so I save up to go cut one down ourselves. I always make a thermos of hot chocolate and we go searching for the best tree at the tree farm!
Fake! But we live in the desert and you have to water the tree about 3 times a day. I have several nice pine scented candles, too!
We do fake trees too, and we actually keep ours up year round for the lighting. It’s peaceful to have a bit of ambient lighting in the evenings from just the tree. We do take down the ornaments though :)
Dr. Laura
real, smells better fun to purchase, no need to store. (composts great.
We live in NC, the tree comes from nearby mountains. I might not if we lived in sat Florida? Do the have pine there?
we do fake because of alligeries
We always get a real tree. We don’t mind the pine needles and extra care that a real tree needs. It smells so good! I also think tree farms are a good thing.
After Christmas I remove the needles and save the limbs and trunk for the fireplace. (We live in the Rocky Mountains and need the wood anyway. Once it dries out enough to burn, it goes into the wood pile.) The needles are great for mulch… When they are dry it isn’t hard to remove them.
My friend’s dad passed away in August and he had a fake tree. My friend gave us the tree. It has issues so they couldn’t take it to the thrift store. Some of the lights don’t work and the base broke… so they put a piece of wood on the bottom so it could sit in a tree stand. The tree is only a couple years old. Anyway, I put the tree up in the basement and let the kids decorate it with the kid friendly ornaments. We have the real tree upstairs in our living room. Not sure how long we’ll keep the fake tree, it may go after this Christmas. Not real happy about adding it to the landfill though.
Real tree! Christmas isn’t Christmas without the real tree. We make a fun occasion out of it and go cut down our own. I have such great memories from throughout my life of going to go cut down our tree (usually getting our vehicle stuck in the snow and the faith-building prayers that got us out).
To me, fake trees rank right up there with margarine and non dairy creamer. I hate fake things. Granted, I live in Oregon, and my dad is a forester. We cut down a natural noble fir every year. If I lived elsewhere, I would go without a tree rather than have a fake one. Funny story – I lived in Kentucky for a while and we moved into our parsonage on Christmas Eve. We found a u cut tree farm nearby. I thought the trees looked funny then I realized that they had been painted! The owner said people are so used to fake ones that the real trees aren’t green enough. The only thing worse were the florescent painted LIVE chicks at Easter.
My husband is a forester for Lake County, MN…a fake tree is out of the question!! We make a day of it by heading to the woods with all our friends and kids to find the perfect tree. Right now we still have toddlers and infants so we can’t be in the cold too long. Our goal when the kids are old enough is to roast hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire for lunch. This year we had a soup & bread potluck with hot chocolate, hot cider, strong coffee and cookies! It was a GREAT day and we hope to continue the tradition next year!!
We used to make fun of fake tree people, until I realized how much money they save.
We got our fake tree in 2001 and I haven’t looked back. Yeah, they don’t smell good, but they also don’t smell bad, either.
We even bought a second one for another room when we had a larger home. Now that one is at the office window, giving folks who drive by something pretty to look at.
If I want the house to smell Christmasy, I put cinnamon on the stove.
We also have allergy issues with real ones, too.
Real! Always! I couldn’t stand to put up a fake tree. I guess that makes me a Christmas tree snob. :-)
Mostly fake. Growing up we had a silver table top one. I hated it, the cat chewed it, and I was embarrassed because it wasn’t even green. When we moved with our fake silver tree to NW Montana (in middle of a national forest) it was an abomination to have a fake one. We were given one every year by a forester in our church. When my hubby and I got married, we bought, like you did, a half priced one at the BX and that lasted us through 5 moves and 2 children. We are now on our 2nd married fake tree. (It seems like an artificial tree lasts through about 16 years of marriage!) Cats climb real trees, drink all the water, and they look so forlorn afterwards:(
We’re fakers too! ha ha Did you know that the best store in the whole wide world (Walmart!!) sells pine scented fake needles that you can add to your tree? Seriously! Go to their Christmas tree department and take a look!
I’m a Walmart SNOB, Walmart is the WORST store in the world in our home.
Living in Alaska we grew up searching for the perfect tree as a family and want to keep the tradition going with our family!!
Fake tree family! We use to buy the real ones, but they got to expensive. You can get a nice one for around $40 after Christmas. I do miss the tree smell.
Thank Christine, Going to check Walmart out!
Fake. Hobby Lobby after Christmas sale. I bought 2~ a big one and a little one just for me. (Sometimes Moms like things to be decorated HER way…) Dont’ care about the smell, do care that I don’t have to pick up needles! We have just as much fun decorating it as we do a real one.
I’m allergic to Christmas trees, so we’re a fake tree family for sure.
We actually have a 6 foot somewhat thin Christmas tree that I bought for $10 the Christmas right before we got married (we married on New Year’s Eve), and it sits on a chair in our front room as our official Christmas tree. I planned on trying to find a more “full” replacement for it after Christmas this year, but I just can’t bring myself to replace it for sentimental reasons, so we’re keeping it until it meets a fate similar to yours :)
***Real*** =)
We got married November 27 (18 years ago) and decided our first Christmas that we would make it our anniversary “treat” to have a real tree. The kids love the adventures we’ve had at various tree farms through the years.
Fake tree here! I’ve had them growing up and continue to have them after I got married. We got our last one three years ago for 75% off.
Real – no other way for us!
I grew up cutting our own tree – it was a family outing. My husband also had real trees. That’s one expense we put into the December budget every year!
The same thing happened to ours 2 years ago, except it was fully decorated and several of the boys’ ornaments broke. So sad.
We have had fake our first 4 christmases. But this year we decided on real. I’m thinking seriously about finding one half price after christmas this year. If only I can find a place to store it. Our house has NO storage!!
We do fake. Always have had fake. I talked hubby into having a real tree one year. He hated the price and blamed my allergies for not getting a real one ever again. So now we have three fake trees because I went to an estate sale and was given the trees. One green, one white, one silver (that needs repair work done to it.)
Fake. I don’t like the smell of real and pretty sure I have allergies to it. Paid $150 for it 9 years ago, so even though I did not get it on sale it also saves money long term. It was pre-lit, but we have had to replace the lighting (part last year & part this year. And even though it is not considered “green” to by fake, I think it is “green” and saves real trees. I plan to keep it until it falls apart, so it is “green” to me. ;) My mothers is over $25 years old and has many years left in it, so I think if you invest a little more money in one you love you will be happy with it for decades.
I have another question I think would be fun to post…. What color are the lights on your tree? Clear, Multi, or One solid color.
Ours is all clear. When I was a kid my mom had ours all yellow one year and that was beautiful.
We have fake. I have allergies and just couldn’t take it. I have allergies without the real tree.. so, I don’t even want to imagine having a real tree in my house.
My MIL bought us a new tree this year and I LOVE it. It’s flocked and just beautiful!
Real. My family lives in the midst of LOTS of tree farms (our area supplies 50% of the trees in the United States). There is a tree farm near our house with $15 nobles, blue spruce, and grand firs. I love getting to go out and pick a tree with our family and cut it down.
I grew up with fake trees. Never had a real one until this year. My husband loves real trees because that is what he grew up with. We live in an apartment and we are military so we move a lot. We were tired of moving the (huge, too large for our apartment, hand-me-down) fake tree so we gave it away. I’m not thrilled about $40 for a disposable tree, but the cheaper ones were spray painted (not in my house, around my children. eww!). We are going to readdress the real vs fake questions next year.
We got a real tree. I wrote a whole post about why here: http://livingfromscratch1.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-we-got-real-christmas-tree.html but the biggest reasons are fake trees are so bad for my health, they’re extremely difficult to recycle and take a lot of gas to get from their manufacture point to here and we live somewhere where pine trees are plentiful, so they can be gotten locally from farms who replant them once theyre gone, making them a much more renewable resource
My grandfather had a tree farm while I was growing up. He raised balsam fir, he always said they smelled the best. He’s gone now, and ashamedly, I have a fake tree. But I remember how good his hands always smelled and us kids always helped cut, drag and sell at Christmas time, mowing and shearing in the summer time. We can’t find the balsam here in Tennessee, I guess they don’t grow well here, so I bought an artificial one.
Real all the way. Usually get the tree at the last minute so it is like a Charlie Brown tree, but still love real trees.
I grew up with real trees — my wife grew up with fake. Since we have been married, we have had real trees ever year. Fortunately, the city composts the trees after Christmas, so there is no waste involved.
As for the price, we just budget for it. And we just deal with the pine needles stuck in the carpet, and the time it takes to remove them.
My thought has always been (fortunately we have no allergies) that I am celebrating the birth of a real person, so I stick with a real tree.
We always have a real tree, cut from our own land. In fact, finding the perfect tree is on our agenda for this afternoon (it’s only 2 degrees here right now & we’re waiting for the temp to rise a few degrees before we head out!)
When we got our first place, we got a cheap fake one. I bought some branch garland that was the same color and filled in all the gaps to make it fuller. If only the cat would quit running off with pieces… It still looks great! I love not having to worry about fires, pine needles, and watering. When we have kids we may get a real one from time to time but I feel like this is more in keeping with our values because we will use it year after year.
Fake trees for us for many reasons – we have one in every room of the house (yes, even the bathrooms), we decorate early because we all love the Christmas season and love all the lights. I was adding real pine boughs to our decorating the other day, and all the scratches and itching I received for my efforts reminded me of one more reason we don’t do real trees! The fakes are so beautiful now, and with some pine candles burning throughout the hose, folks can’t tell they are fake! Of course, they are a LOT cheaper also!
Fake — I was always a real tree person until I got married. We did real out first year, but my husband’s allergies won the argument on what to do year two and we’ve been fake ever since. BUT, I discovered Yankee candles have a misletoe scent and you can burn it and it smells like you have a real tree. The best of both worlds! :)
Interesting comment, as we stay with fake when we put one up because I get very irritated by the real one’s smells! I also like that it’s more affordable not to buy one every year, but going to pick and cut one down is a lot of fun we miss out on too. (Some years we travel so much between Thanksgiving and Christmas that we don’t put one up, because we don’t get to enjoy it.) We had mostly fake for my childhood.
SAVE THE TREES. Artificial for me I’ve saved the lives of over 25 trees since I switched. Think of how much oxygen those trees put back into our atmosphere. :0
We have a fake tree b/c it’s cheaper than buying a new, real tree each year. I would love to buy a real tree. What a great tradition to go and pick out a tree, not to mention the wonderful aroma of evergreen, so Christmasy. Oh well. Maybe one day we will have enough money for a live tree.
We have a fake tree… But then it’s a potted, prelit, 4 ft tree that I also got for half price! We have a small home but it sits proudly and prominently on the side table. I suspect we’ll always do fake because I like prelit. (As for the smell of a real tree, I suppose you could hang a pine scented car fresher or two on the back side – like they did in The Office last week!)
I’m allergic to something in live trees so it’s fake here. In fact, ours is an old aluminum tree complete with a color wheel. Found it cheap at a yard sale lots of years ago.
As for “saving the trees”, if you get your tree from a tree farm you’re actually helping the environment. For the amount of time that the trees grow, they’re helping the atmosphere. Without customers, christmas tree farmers would not plant more trees each year. The manufacturers that make artificial trees probably pollute the earth more in the process… and the trees fill landfills when they break. I think it’s more natural to plant a tree, even if you intend to cut it down again for Christmas.
Growing up we always had a real tree. But as a single parent for most of my adult life, fake is easier, and in the long run, cheaper. And at that time, money was usually the deciding factor with all other things being equal. When I got married again, my husband desperately wanted a “real” tree. “I’ll take care of it” he says. “I’ll water it” he says. Ok. Real tree for the next 7 years. And of course, I had to water it and take care of it and clean up after it. The spring before #8 Christmas I find a brand new, 6 ft, artificial tree at the Good Will. I snatched it up. Going forward, as long as this mommy has to take care of the darned thing, I will have an artificial tree. I went and bought the pine scented air freshener and spray it around before husband comes home. Mommy doesn’t complain about the tree anymore. Everyone is much happier.
We’re a fake tree family, had ours for 5 years now. We didn’t buy the fake tree to save money; we bought it to save our marriage! For our first couple years together we got a real tree, but by the time it was straight in the stand (I’m one of those people who can eyeball that something is 1/16th of an inch off) and got the lights on, my husband and I were not feeling very loving and filled with the Christmas spirit. So we got a fake pre-lit tree. Takes us less than ten minutes to set-up and looks great year after year. Though I do admit every time I go by a Christmas tree lot I’m happy to save the $60!
Totally loving the fake trees. Especially the ones with the lights already attached. No worries about bugs (unless you didn’t store it correctly from the year before) or sap. But of course, no tree smell or the fun of going out an picking one.
A tip for those with fake trees, discovered by a friend, wear your gardening gloves when you’re spreading out the branches, makes it so much easier.
Although I always consider the ease and one time expense of a fake tree every year. I can’t get over how beautiful, natural looking and fragrant a real tree can be. I never regret getting a real tree every year. (And if they started scenting fake trees your house would probably smell like car freshner) :( I’d stick to pine scented candles.
We have always had fake. I too think they are easier. I love the real trees… at someone else’s house. I call spreading the branches “fluffing”. The gloves are a must Gilda. I laugh out loud when I see an tree that’s badly fluffed. It’s like an art!
We’ve had a little fake one since we’ve been married too (five years). I got it half off too, a week before Christmas. :) I love JoAnn’s. It stands about 4′ with it’s stand, came pre-lit with twinkly white lights, and we always have it up on a small table so we forget that the rest of the tree isn’t there. :) You are going to be so amazed at how far fake trees have come. They look more and more real every year and come in all of the different tree varieties!
As for scented fake trees, NO WAY. I HATE artificial pine sent. Yuck. I did walk into an office the other day that had a REAL pine wreath on the door, and it made the whole room smell wonderful. Mmm. They aren’t easy to get up here, we don’t have natural pine trees like they make wreaths out of. But maybe some year I’ll get one for our home as a compromise.
Always real, but the fake seems so great. One time expense, prelit. But every time I mention it, the other eight members of the family give me the humbug routine. We are pure country folk, so chopping down a tree from the woods is tradition. Grabbing it from the attic just doesn’t seem very festive.
There is something so special about getting the kids and going to the tree farm to pick and cut the tree!We did home depot until we found this family farm along thepowerline strip in the middle of our little city. I love bringing the tree home and watching the boys put it up. The beauty of Gods creation to remind us of the tree Jesus endured for us. They are more expensive in the long run but oh so much better for the planet than the fake.Fake win in convience but lose everywhere else in my book.
We have traditionally been a real tree family (after a couple years of college married housing where we had to have a fake). But this year I was able to convince my hubby to get a “small” fake tree for the “off” years where we travel to his family’s house. They were 40% off and we had the added benefit of the 20yr old girl that lives with us was also able to use her employee discount. I love the look of our smaller (4.5ft) tree, but do miss the smell of the real thing.
Fake. Our fake tree is on its last leg too. It is 9 ft tall and beautiful. However, to replace it even at 1/2 price is so expensive. We are keeping our eye out too.
We always had a fake one because my dad is allergic to trees. However, we might go for a real one next year… who knows?
We’re a real tree family!
It’s so awesome to go out, sometimes into the woods and sometimes into a parking lot, and pick your tree to haul home and decorate.
You try to judge the right size, hope not to get any birds nests and then get to spend the next couple of weeks picking up needles and watering it! It’s fun though. For real!
Great-Grandma did have a pretty cool aluminum tree when I was a kid though!
This is our 3rd year with a real tree and I really like it. The only thing I like better about a fake tree is not having to buy a new one every year but I also hate storing a fake tree. I grew up always having a fake tree and for the first 4 years of my marriage we had a fake tree but tossed it after a flood. Since we planned on moving the next year we didn’t know what size fake tree to purchase not knowing what our new place would look like or what kind of storage we would have so we decided for 1 year to get a real tree. Then we moved and although I can fit any size tree I fancy (love vaulted ceilings) and I have a basement and crawl for storage I really like not having to store a fake tree all year just to have it up for a month, I love the smell and not messing around adjusting all those stinkin’ branches. The only thing that I currently miss about a fake is that I have a few heavy ornaments that a real tree can’t quite hold up but I get them in there somehow. I think we will be a real tree family for now.
We are fake family. We are allergic to trees, so having one in the house 24/7 makes us miserable. I’ve never really liked them anyways, too messy and high maintanence for me
Always fake!! I’m very allergic to the real ones (indoors anyway). If I’m in a room with a real tree (or wreath, garland, etc) for even an hour, I’ll be miserable for several days. I love the smell of the real ones when I walk by them at the store, and they look very pretty, but you can’t beat the convenience of a prelit tree. We have 2 boys under 3 yrs, so the faster we can set up the tree, the better.
Also, another point for the fake trees, you can put many more lights on them without worrying so much about fire. We’ve always joked that my parents’ tree would be mistaken for the airport by the airplanes flying overhead. :-)
We have always gone out hunting for the perfect real tree. It’s just become a family tradiditon my husband and I like, but I’m not so sure about the boys anymore. Last year when we went out there was so much snow it made for a difficult, yet memorable experience. Even had to stick around a bit longer so DH could help get a stuck car out of a snowbank. And this year it was so darn windy and cold that one of the 3 boys stayed home! The other two hid in the warm gift shop while DH and I made a quick tree decision. I’m getting closer to opting for the fake variety. As for scent, Gold Canyon Candles make some incredible varieties of pine scented candles! When we do go fake, I won’t worry about losing the smell. Want to see a catalog? Send me your address. :)
Real trees for us!
I grew up with real trees, and can’t imagine having a fake one. To me it’s the difference between fake flowers and a bouquet of real ones — nothing compares.
I love the sense of bringing nature inside, the smell, the special-ness of a real tree, and the fact that you can get a tree that looks different each year — each one with its own personality.
Plus, to me, a tree grown on a tree farm means a small plot of land in this country still devoted to nature. :-)
Fake all the way!! We too bought ours 1/2 price 5 yrs ago at Kmart. It’s a Martha Stewart one and it is BEAUTIFUL!!! Everyone who walks thru our door thinks it’s real. The added bonus is how much $$$ we save every year on NOT buying a real one. I know there are farms that grow trees just for Christmas, but it seems so sad that by the day after Christmas they are dying :( The real ones do smell amazing, but in the end we are fake tree folks! Oh we bought ours w/out the prelits. I enjoy watching my cute husband string the lights every year :)
PS I think they are safer too. Less fire danger! AND I don’t miss vacuming up all those pine needles!
My first year living on my own, my grandma bought me a 3 ft tree that I put in the girls room, our first married Christmas my parents gave me there VERY large fake tree that they got when they first got married…so its about 35 years old…I bought a 1/2 priced prelit lit tree last year for our basement. My roommate and I got a real tree one year…we felt like such grown ups, but then needed guys to help us get it in our apartment…we guessed a ceiling too high and then needed guys to saw the end…my parents always had one real and one fake in their house (Until last year) I guess I like the handme down fake trees…plus we put up 4 trees in our comfortably small house,so real trees would really add up!!!
Though I’ve had both, I MUCH prefer the real. Nothing beats having the smell, the mess of the needles, and the not having to store it all year round. That said, I do have a fake one given to us several years ago when we lived in Memphis and the cost of real was WAY out of budget. Now that I’m in the NW, real is good.
When the base for our artificial tree broke, someone gave us a stand for a real tree that works just fine! If you still have the broken tree, maybe you don’t have to replace it just yet. Still, 16 years is a pretty good run. :)