Christmas Trees... Real or Artificial?

[Disney4us2]

With the Christmas season fast approaching I thought this would be fun.

Do you get a real tree or use an artificial one.

I use and artificial one. I don't like all the needles falling. But I love the smell of a real tree.

[DVC2004]

We do the artificial but I love real. My DH does not. We did have a real tree a couple of times in our marriage but one of those times it had a crooked trunk. It kept falling over and ultimately we had to rig it to stand with a rope and our curtain rod. After that year he said no more.

I love the smell of a real tree.

[ibrowse17]

We always have a real :tree:tree, around 10 feet, each year. We would have it no other way:thumbsup:

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Aritifical all the way in our house!

I have an allergy to pine trees, and survived about 5 years with a real tree when I was a kid and vowed never again!

[sportsguy2315]

I'm like Heather, I'm allergic to the pine so I go artificial, although the smell is quite nice!

[2Epcot]

As a kid I grew up having artificial trees for Christmas. My parents still have one in their house, both me and my brother have them in our houses as well. The current tree I've been using for at least 15 years now, which has brought the cost of that tree down to about $4.00 a year.

[Camping Mom]

I LOVE real trees but about 10 years ago I started sneezing when one was in the house. Yes, it stops me up, but it turned out to be the water that made me sneeze more!! No matter how much I changed it out, mildew builds up in the water and THAT is what made me sneeze the most!! We are going to Disneyworld this Christmas so an artificial will go up.

[jwildflower1981]

I love my pre-lit artifical tree! I do miss the smell of real Christmas trees though. Bath and Bodyworks sells the Evergreen sent wallflowers and I plug it in behind my fake tree and get my yummy Christmas smells!:thumbsup:

[teambricker04]

I love real trees. BUT it is just easier to have a prelit artifical tree, so that's what we do. Maybe when our little boys get older and can apreciate it... or I will just got and get a scented plug in ;)

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I did the artificial tree when I had an apartment. Now that I have a house I do the real thing. Yeah it makes a mess but I still like it.
I just finished putting it up and decorating it. The guy couldn't believe I bought the first one I looked at. And it's beautiful, nice and full with no "holes" in it. And it smells yummy!

[disneyboundagain]

Real all the way!! I wouldn't even consider an artificial. Always had a real tree growing up, will always have a real tree in our house. We put ours up yesterday, decorated it this morning. We did it early since we leave for DW on 12/17. We left of 12/15 last year, so we decided to not put a tree up at home, and bought a 3' artificial for our room. I hated not having a tree at home before we left, I'll never do it again. We only got a 7' tree though, but I like it when we get a 10-12' a lot better.

[Tinkermom]

Artificial tree for us since 13 year old DS is allergic to the fresh trees. Although I do miss the pine smell - thank goodness for Yankee Candles! :)

[Mousefever]

I grew up with real trees each year. At first I was disappointed by an artificial tree, but our townhouse is small. We have a pencil-slim tree that looks lovely when all decorated. I often light the Christmas Wreath Yankee candle in the evening.

Amy

[RedSoxFan]

We have always had a real tree until we moved to NY three years ago. Now it's an artificial tree with pre-lit lights. I do miss having a real one. We considered getting a real one this year; but with a 6 month yellow lab --- decided it wasn't a good idea. Maybe next year as I do miss a real tree.

[Wells]

We always get a real tree, an artificial tree would be a lot more convenient and I have considered it, but our local nature center has a tree sale every year to help support their efforts throughout the year. There are numerous worthy organizations that also sell trees and wreaths this time of year and knowing that your tree helps to support a greater cause is worth any inconvenience of cleaning up a few needles and makes it that much more special.
Support your local community!!:thumbsup:

[stitchaholic]

a real tree experience can't be beat, it starts with picking the right tree, getting it up as straight as possible, and where we are from,the tree's are usually frozen up in the cords,so we have to cut the cords and let it fall,the anticipation of waiting to decorate while watching it fall is fun.
then there is the awesome smell.
sure it's messy, but for us,it is the experience of it that makes it worth it.

[Marilyn Michetti]

Our first year in Az., we got our usual real tree, put it up on Thanksgiving, and took it down two weeks later. We learned fast that a real pine in Az. survives about a week in the house.:(

[laprana]

I love real trees and that would be my first choice, but unfortunately my dog is very allergic to the real ones. So, we have an artificial. The first Christmas we had our dog (the cutest shih tzu on the planet :)), we couldn't figure out why he was sick all the time. We took him to the vet and he asked if we had a real tree up in the house, and of course we did. The vet said that was probably it and my poor dog was on medicine for the rest of that Christmas season. The next year we got the fake tree and our dog had no problems at all. I love real trees, but I love my dog more! :D :tree:

[Dragongirlx]

I love the smell of a real tree but don't like the needles sheeding all over my floor, the univted guests that come with (one memorable Christimas we were invaded by spiders living in the tree) and carting it up 3 flights of stairs to get it into my apartment. So its artifical for me

[Pagan]

We need a "both" option.

Inside my house I have an artificial tree. I have forced air heating and that just destroys real trees FAST.

Out on my unheated front porch however, I have a real one. The lack of any heat lets it last amazingly long...and since the indoor tree is nothing but Disney ornaments, the outside tree gives us a place to put all the ornaments we had BEFORE we started collection the storybook ones. :D

[KylesMom]

We need a "both" option.
Ditto!

We have a smaller artificial tree in our basement for "sports & hobby" ornaments, and then we have a real tree that we cut down each year the day after Thanksgiving that goes in our living room. :mickey:

[rubato]

Unfortunately, artificial. We have gone out and cut a real tree for as long as I can remember. Last year we moved into a newer, smaller house. I had to buy a "slim" 9 foot artificial. It is nice having it up on Thanksgiving, but not my idea of a nice tree. Of course, having the lights already on it saves me a lot of time!

[faline]

Never thought I'd switch from real to artificial. We used to tag and cut our own every year but, when close family moved out of town and it became apparent that some of Christmas holidays would be spent far from home, it felt like a necessity to move away from real trees for the sake of safety.

[Tinkerbella]

Growing up we ALWAYS had a fake tree and I hated it! I'm 24 and this tree was from the 60's. It was literally a tetanus hazard that smelled musty and had lost all of its 'fullness' over the years. We FINALLY stopped using it about 3 years ago and converted to real trees! There's NOTHING like the fresh scent of pine at Christmastime :tree::tree::tree:

[pianobabe]

We have an artificial tree. I wish we could have a live one, but I'm allergic to them. Growing up, I would start to get sick around Christmas. It wasn't until I was a teenager that we realized it was the tree. I was in the living room when my mother started breaking fresh greenery to put across the mantle, when I had a sneezing attack that lasted for a while. She had to take all the greenery outside and I had to stay in my room for about an hour. I was very tempted to get a live tree this year because it's my DS's Senior year of high school and he has never had a live tree. Unfortunately, we were not able to arrange it. Maybe next year.

[Ed]

We learned fast that a real pine in Az. survives about a week in the house.:(

Ditto for Florida. :(

We always had a real tree when we lived up north, normally making a family event out of going out and cutting down the perfect tree - picture the Griswolds, if you wish.

[SBETigg]

We have had real trees in our house since we married. We both grew up with real trees, though my parents changed to artificial when I was a teen. I do the lights, though, and I'm tired of it, so I want a pre-lit artificial tree. Also, for safety reasons. I have seen so many of those holiday specials showing how easily a real tree can go up in flames. We're very cautious with ours, but it still makes me nervous. Artificial seems safer, and I'm ready to switch (if I can convince the DH and kids).

[beksy]

We had a real one when I was little and we literally lived in the woods. Then we moved and got an artificial tree. This has grown over the years. We have a big artificial tree for Mom's "nice" ornaments that is done in red and white, a snowman tree with all snowman ornaments in Mom's room, a disney ornament tree in my bedroom (only about 6 feet), and my sister has a table-top fiber optic tree in her room. Some years we get a real tree for the family room for other ornaments but it has been a few years. Mom is not able to put lights on the tree anymore and this was always her job so we go with pre-lit! :tree:

[Ms. Mode]

We always had real trees when I was growing up, my Dad and his brothers would go out on my grandfather's farm and cut them down...we always had the most bare trees ever :)

My DH doesn't like the needles hanging around the house until June, so we go artificial. :thumbsup:

[jillluvsdisney]

Fake tree for me. We had a real tree when I was in middle school. I was very sick ears plugged up and congested) for a month. I ended up going to an allergist in Milwaukee who tested me and found out I was allergic.

[Stitchahula]

We have always had a real tree until we moved to NY three years ago. Now it's an artificial tree with pre-lit lights. I do miss having a real one. We considered getting a real one this year; but with a 6 month yellow lab --- decided it wasn't a good idea. Maybe next year as I do miss a real tree.

I had the same fears with my dogs, but one of my favorite memories now is of Shantara laying under the tree. Every year when we put it up we had to put ornaments that wouldn't break easily on the bottom of the tree so she could lay under the tree. It was funny every morning she would go and touch the ornaments near the bottom with her nose making sure they were all there. My tree looks empty these days without her under it.

[alphamommy]

When I was growing up, we always had real trees, but we never went and cut one ourselves. I can remember several years where the trunk was so crooked that we had to tie it into place.

Since DH and I got married just after Christmas, 1993, my sister and BIL gave us a 7.5 foot Mountain King artificial tree as a wedding present. It's beautiful, but wasn't too practical the first two years, when we had to leave off 2 rows of branches (and several in the back) just to fit it into our small living room. In our two subsequent houses, that's been a big consideration for me - where will we put the tree?

[Tinksalot]

Real tree for me, messy needles and all! :tree:

[dnickels]

Real American grown and harvested over Chinese aluminum, plastic and (often) lead based paint that will still be taking up space in a landfill a thousand years from now anytime! :thumbsup:

Also, FWIW, there's not much in a harvested Christmas tree itself to cause allergies -the trees are dormant so they're not releasing any pollen and haven't done so in months. More likely is that the tree is covered in grass pollens or other things that have collected on it. A simple way to fix this is to rinse the tree down with a good spray hose before bringing it inside.

After all, if everyone who has claimed to be allergic to real trees in this thread were actually so horribly allergic to them how would anyone ever be able to go outside or into the woods? Maybe I underestimate the ability of people to spend their entire lives indoors but I see lots of folks outside around pine trees with no problems so I think it's just a misunderstanding of what's causing the allergies. :tree:

[DNS]

We do three artificial trees and if I can talk hubby into it, we'll have a 4th one soon. Of course one is all Disney decorations.

[garymacd]

Love the smell. Unfortunately, my beloved is allergic to pine, spruce and balsam and has difficulty breathing after only a short period of time with a real tree in the house.

[PirateLover]

Dnickels you took the words out of my mouth. We too would suffer from allergies and connected it to the time the tree came in the house. We started hosing it down first before we brought it in and voila! The last 4 years there have been zero allergy issues! This also takes care of the bug issue. Once we found a little bird's nest.

[PirateLover]

Oh, and by the way, we've always had real, and this year I'll be in my own apartment and I'll have a real one too :)

[IloveDisney71]

I'd love to have a real tree but I have a crazy cat that eats plants until she gets sick:ack: so we have to have an artificial tree! Crazy cat - but I love her.

[jrkcr]

DH and I have always had real trees for our big family tree. We love the smell!! Our tree is usually about 9 feet tall, our angel on top has left an indention in the ceiling where her head fits. I usually have to push her into place with a yardstick.
But I recently, just this fall, found I have an allergy to pine needles(the yard is COVERED in them). I know I have spring allergies with pine pollen, but never knew about the pine needles problem.
We usually get a fraser fir, so hopefully I am not going to have a problem wit it. :pine:

I put up smaller table-top sized artificial trees in the kids bedrooms and kitchen and dining room. Every kid has their own "theme" for their bedroom. (harry potter, scobby doo, and maybe a japanese theme this year) My kitchen tree had pastel colored expresso cups and toddler sized silver forks and spoons on it last year. This year I'm using christmas shaped cookie cutters. :tree:

[CanadianWDWFan]

I grew up where every year we would go out and cut our own tree. But with my family now, due to allergies, we have to have the artificial one.

[Hull-onian]

for our home an artificial tree is okay. It is 2 1/2 feet tall. All decorated beautifully in the window. When driving by our home it looks to be six feet tall because it is on an end table. We are very happy with our tree.:tree: