Christmas Tree poll

ivyvines6

just to get this debate started early...

onesmallcoconut

I love the smell of a real tree but prefer the ease of a fake tree 

tincupchalice

Fake tree, because my husband is allergic to life.

We do two, one big one in the adult room, and a small one in the playroom.

Ceridwen77

Real tree, although if there was a really great looking fake tree I’d consider it. 

bwow615

We bought a fake a few years ago. It's just so much simpler. When DS is old enough we may go back to getting a real one each year and start a new tradition
 Also I think we are either going to put our tree up on Thanksgiving or the day after. And I want to go all out on exterior decorations this year. DS is at a great age to love the lights and characters. We watched Rudolph today, we are full on Christmas over here. 

ivyvines6

Having animals and small children in my house as a kid killed any desire for us to have a real tree either. Fake trees for life!

charlestonchew

I've never had a real tree due to money and convenience. I've heard those suckers are messy and have no urge to clean up after them and dispose of them.

suchaglencoco

Fake. I'm allergic to real and fake is a lot easier.
We do 1 big one in our living room, 1 medium one and 1 small one in our dining room, 1 small one  in our sitting area, and 2 small ones in the twins' room (those might need to move for a year).

fraufarbissina

I'm all for a fake tree but I haven't been able to talk my husband into it.  I'm hoping now that we have a baby in the house he'll see why fake is better!

I started listening to Christmas music today and now I'm all in!  I guess I'll wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate but I was tempted to start today

JNCPro3130

I'm trying really hard to stick to my thanksgiving first and then Christmas rule! I'm really excited this year! We do a real tree each year. DS has done really well about leaving everything alone. We'll see how his 2 year old self does this year!

suchaglencoco

JNCPro3130 said:

I'm trying really hard to stick to my thanksgiving first and then Christmas rule! I'm really excited this year! We do a real tree each year. DS has done really well about leaving everything alone. We'll see how his 2 year old self does this year!

Last year we put one of those bendable/shapeable baby gates around our tree because our twins were only 1. I am hoping we don't need to do it this year! We're going to try with nothing and hope an explanation and firm "no" will go a long way.

jhysmath

My family has  always done real trees. MH's family has always done fake  trees. In the 10 years we've been together, we haven't done Christmas together so I don't know what we'd do. I'm assuming next year we'll have to figure out what we're doing. I find having a tree at our house is pointless seeing how we both leave to see our families and don't spend Christmas at home. I'm not ready for the arguments next year on where we will spend Christmas. 

Poppy0419

I already have enough things to keep alive so we do fake! I love a beautiful real tree!! 

glitzandglitter

I always had a real tree growing up but DH is allergic so we always do fake now. 

helloworld9

I like the smell of a real tree, but I also don't like the hassle of putting up ornaments and taking them down. So... no tree for us.

mileswithmyles

We do a real tree and DS gets a small tree for his room. He is the king of holiday spirit and loves to decorate. 

cups4

Toddler=no real tree

holli0801

I’m all for real trees!! We didn’t have one at all last year bc of a toddler. But when at friends/family members houses with trees he didn’t touch them. So going to try a real one this year again! 

hcrish

I grew up going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting down our own Christmas tree every yr, even the yrs I flew home for the holidays while in college. Unfortunately I haven’t always lived in climates suitable to find Christmas trees or it hasn’t always been very feasible for me...so I have a fake tree in the mean time. Once we move and own a home (in the next yr or so) we will hopefully start the tradition of getting a real tree every yr.

ivyvines6

hcrish said:

I grew up going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting down our own Christmas tree every yr, even the yrs I flew home for the holidays while in college. Unfortunately I haven’t always lived in climates suitable to find Christmas trees or it hasn’t always been very feasible for me...so I have a fake tree in the mean time. Once we move and own a home (in the next yr or so) we will hopefully start the tradition of getting a real tree every yr.

My grandpa actually had a Christmas tree farm in central Florida for many years. Apparently if you don’t maintain them they grow insanely, but also make amazing tree forts. 

Pearlvirus

When I was single I did nothing. My DH had a fake one so we used that our first few years together. But then a couple years ago my cat peed all over it when it was in storage, so we did a real one the last two years. I kind of like that it’s different every time. Plus I’d rather have land set aside for growing trees rather than a landfill full of all the discarded plastic ones. He thinks Christmas decorating is important. Even with kids now I kind of dgaf. And I call it a Yule tree to annoy him. 

heelsidehero

I love that everyone says a fake tree is easier. I prefer real tree cuz it's easier. I hate fluffing the branches of fake trees. 

ivyvines6

heelsidehero said:

I love that everyone says a fake tree is easier. I prefer real tree cuz it's easier. I hate fluffing the branches of fake trees. 

But buying a tree, transporting it to your house, then bringing it inside, and having to later dispose of it after dealing with it shedding all over the place, and remembering to water it in the mean time is easier? Ok

mileswithmyles

Having a real tree doesn’t feel like that much work to me. We always did it growing up and DH and I continued it when we got married. I don’t want to store a fake tree and be stuck with the size or style for years and years. It’s nice to change our preferences each year. To each his/her own. 

suchaglencoco

ivyvines6 said:

heelsidehero said:

I love that everyone says a fake tree is easier. I prefer real tree cuz it's easier. I hate fluffing the branches of fake trees. 

But buying a tree, transporting it to your house, then bringing it inside, and having to later dispose of it after dealing with it shedding all over the place, and remembering to water it in the mean time is easier? Ok

ivyvines6 said:

heelsidehero said:

I love that everyone says a fake tree is easier. I prefer real tree cuz it's easier. I hate fluffing the branches of fake trees. 

But buying a tree, transporting it to your house, then bringing it inside, and having to later dispose of it after dealing with it shedding all over the place, and remembering to water it in the mean time is easier? Ok

I barely remember to water myself haha.

cups4

Ya know what's great? A laundry room where you store the fake tree year round with the lights on an everything. I'm not getting it in and out of a box every year. #faketreesforlife

theletlers

Fake! I'm pretty much allergic to all things that grow outdoors. And also I'm a weirdo and absolutely hate the smell of real trees. Even in the stores when they try to make it smell like Christmas and do the fir and pine smells it makes me gag. But I do think the real ones are prettier! And like what @Pearlvirus said I wish I could just compost it at the end of the season instead of creating more waste. At least the newer ones are all plastic so I can recycle it when it starts to break!

charlestonchew

How often are you guys throwing your fake trees away? The point is so you can keep it long term. And when you do finally dispose of them, recycle. So fake trees are not less eco friendly. My mother has had hers 10+ years.

And fluffing the branches takes me 60 seconds to whoever said fluffing branches was more work lol

zizzabell523

I grew up with a fake tree, but DH and his family always got real. Now I've converted from pro-fake to pro-real. Yeah, needles get everywhere and the sap is icky, but it smells so much better and you don't have to worry about saving a place to store it! I also used to work at a Christmas tree farm in the office and have 1,000 times more appreciation for all the work that goes into growing them and shipping them all across the country.

sandbar517

Always real!   You can't beat the smell of a real tree.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without it.  We haven't done it yet, but there are some farms around here that you can take a horse drawn carriage ride out to pick your tree, and I think it would be so much fun to do it that way.  

doraleigh35

We get a real tree. I grew up with the ugliest artificial tree, it looked like toilet brushes stuck on a pole. I always swore that when I was an adult we would only have a real tree. We either cut it down ourselves or go to a tree farm.

sandbar517

@doraleigh35 I busted out laughing so hard in my cubicle at your toilet brushes stuck on a pole comment.  So funny!!! 

doraleigh35

Haha @sandbar517 it's so bad! It was my great grandmother's and my Mom insisted on using it every year out of sentimental value. I have no idea what year it is from, it has to be like the 50's. We finally convinced her to get a new tree a few years ago.

thunderberry

Real tree 4life. The fun of going to pick it out and then the smell it brings to the house are a huge part of the holidays for me, it just wouldn't be Christmas without it. Even when I lived in a tiny apartment with no real room for a tree I'd get a tiny one, or even a wreathe or something, just for the smell.

sparklingdiamond

We have to do a fake tree since DH is allergic.  I love real trees though!

heelsidehero

ivyvines6 said:

heelsidehero said:

I love that everyone says a fake tree is easier. I prefer real tree cuz it's easier. I hate fluffing the branches of fake trees. 

But buying a tree, transporting it to your house, then bringing it inside, and having to later dispose of it after dealing with it shedding all over the place, and remembering to water it in the mean time is easier? Ok

My husband does most of that haha. We dispose of it by burning in our backyard so not too bad. Also watering isn't that bad since you only have to keep it alive for a month. 

ivyvines6

heelsidehero said:

ivyvines6 said:

heelsidehero said:

I love that everyone says a fake tree is easier. I prefer real tree cuz it's easier. I hate fluffing the branches of fake trees. 

But buying a tree, transporting it to your house, then bringing it inside, and having to later dispose of it after dealing with it shedding all over the place, and remembering to water it in the mean time is easier? Ok

My husband does most of that haha. We dispose of it by burning in our backyard so not too bad. Also watering isn't that bad since you only have to keep it alive for a month. 

I kill everything that needs to be watered... My son just takes mine during the day, or hits me with his cup.

Ceridwen77

@heelsidehero watering a live tree is not just about keeping it alive. Your tree needs to be thoroughly watered and never dry, otherwise it becomes a fire hazard.

nikky8

We do fake at our house. I have a bad habit of forgetting to water things (summer flowers never do well), also I don't want to be cleaning up needles all the time. Also fake tree can go up sooner and stay up longer. My parents (where we go Christmas day) have a real tree, so we sorta get the best of both worlds! I do agree the smell of a real tree is nice, and looks much better for the most part but will still opt for fake in my own house.

roomsu

Real all the way!  I grew up with the family tradition of going to the Christmas tree farm and picking one to cut down. We did fake until we had kids. Now it’s a part of our family traditions to go with my parents, my siblings, and my nieces and nephew to go pick all our trees. We are going today!

SaVy_05

We have a fake tree. We choose fake over real because I don't want to mess with watering, dropping needles etc. I love my beautiful fake pre-lit tree and how easy it is!