<p>Well, H and I have gone back and forth the last few years about getting a good quality artificial tree rather than the real deal. Here is our thinking:</p>
<p>The kids don’t want to come and pick it out anymore.
The kids want us to wait for them to come home from school to decorate it. That’s fine but…
We can’t have a live tree for long because our house is so dry that it only lasts a week.</p>
<p>So, we end up getting a tree a few days before Christmas, decorate it in a hurry and wait for all the needles to fall off before we take it down.</p>
<p>My kids, 22 and 20 are set against and artificial one but I’m hoping they will forgive me. One of the things that will be hard for them to get used to is that most of the artificial trees have white lights and we have always had colored ones. It seems like a small thing but, you know how traditions are.
Any thoughts or advice if you have made the switch? Any suggestions for good brands of convincing looking trees?</p>
<p>We had an artificial tree for 15 years. It was finally time to toss and it buy a new one. Unfortunately we missed the after Christmas sales last year, so we will be buying a real tree this year from a young lady doing a fundraiser for her club soccer team, because I can’t see spending full price when shortly after Christmas they will be severely marked down.</p>
<p>Now, that said…I loved the flexibility the artificial tree gave us. We could put it up right after Thanksgiving and enjoy it for a whole month without worry over needles dropping and tree fire. We had one with the white lights, but they do sell them with colored as well. ([Pre</a> Lit Christmas Tree, Prelit Artificial Christmas Trees - Color+Clear Lights - Balsam Hill](<a href=“http://www.balsamhill.com/Color-Clear-s/43.htm]Pre”>http://www.balsamhill.com/Color-Clear-s/43.htm))</p>
<p>I am kinda excited that this year we will have that “new tree” smell in the house. That’s what I miss the most about not getting a real tree. The dropping needles, and having to string the lights ourselves…well, not so excited about that!</p>
<p>I didn’t care one way or the other, but my husband was adamant that we have a real tree. Our oldest daughter, however, was extremely allergic, and after one tearful plea about how miserable that tree made her every year, he capitulated and we bought an artificial one. Turns out his Mom is allergic as well, and always had to drug up before she came over. We now actually like the artificial tree. The real ones we bought (10 ft. Noble Fir) were always very pricey and dried up early no matter what we tried.</p>
<p>I’ve seen lots of artificial trees with multicolored lights…and if you are willing to spend a bit some of the artificial trees now look really great…more pluses…no watering, no worry of dry, fire prone tree, no dragging the tree to the curb and getting all the dry needles that fell off all over the house vacuumed up, no untangling multiple stands of lights and getting them on the tree each year, no hauling the tree home and scratching the car paint…!
We have someone allergic to the “real thing” and had to move to artificial…have never looked back and been happy!</p>
<p>The girls’ tree has been artificial for 5 years. They are responsible for decorating it and being able to set it up in 5 minutes meant the tree actually got decorated before they lost interest.
We bought our main tree about 3 years ago before Christmas. A quality nursery/gift/decor store had them 15% off. It was the best move ever. So much easier than dealing with the needles and the hour+ getting it just right in the stand. Given that we’re in the PNW, it was hard giving up the real thing, but it had to be done. We’d buy a tree then spend a week waiting for it to dry from being out in the rain.</p>
<p>H talked me into an artificial tree several years ago. I was against it but since I wasn’t the one that had to crawl under it a couple times a day to keep it watered, I finally relented. Actually, I don’t mind a bit. (although, it really needs replaced…there are just as many needles on the ground as with a real tree now)</p>
<p>Re: the lights - ours is prelit with white lights, but I always put a few strings of colored lights on also. It’s actually really pretty with both the white and colored ones.</p>
<p>Re: the smell - I get a Christmas tree scented candle and burn it when we’re home.</p>
<p>I was one of those who said I would NEVER have an artificial tree. Well, after 21 years of dealing with all the issues of carting the tree home, getting it in the stand, and then cleaning up the needles for weeks after the tree is out of the house, I have changed my tune. I also told my parents I never wanted them to get an artificial tree, but 10 or 15 years ago they switched to artificial without me even realizing it.</p>
<p>We have two more years until our youngest heads to college, then we are going to go the artificial route. I can’t wait.</p>
<p>I gotta tell you…I LOVE my beautiful fake tree. I say “my” because my husband insistes on getting a real one too. I put mine up at the beginning of December in the living room. It looks gorgeous…and if you don’t touch it, you would think it’s real. He puts the “real” tree up the weekend before Christmas and we take it down the 26th…by then, it has no needles left anyway. It’s lovely too…but a huge mess and I hate it. Plus…can’t be decorated until someone puts the lights on. The beautiful fake tree is good to go once it’s put together (mine is three parts)…lights included. Oh…and it stays up until New Years. So pretty.</p>
<p>Last year, I FINALLY convinced them (kid and husband) that we didn’t need a real tree that was taller than the rooms in our house. We got a beautiful SMALL blue spruce last year and it was ok too. </p>
<p>I switch to artificial a couple of years ago because I like to leave the tree up a long, long time and I just couldn’t do that with a real one. I miss the smell so I get some real greens to supply that. I love my tree - everyone thinks it’s real when come in. I took the after Christmas mark down route too. It does just have white lights but I don’t mind because I used multi colored lights all the prior years - as did my mom - so the white lights are something different for me.</p>
<p>I’m sure the day will come when we will need to have an artificial tree. H always spots a tree on our property and keeps it “trimmed” up for a Christmas tree, so our Christmas tree is always “our” tree. You have to thin those things out anyway because they grow like weeds. When he can no longer deal with it is the point I’m assuming we’ll buy an artificial. These days it’s hard to tell the difference, except a “real” tree smells real and that is a smell you just can’t spray out of a can. The only thing I will have a hard time getting used to is that many of the artificial trees come with their own lights so the tree “looks” the same every year, same shape, same lights. A natural tree is different every year and I like that so it will be alittle sad for me to go artificial. My mother went and bought an artificial tree the year she turned 80. She said she didn’t want to hassle anymore with going to the lot and getting the darn thing to stand straight and tall and by that point my father wasn’t much help. She also went small and puts it on top of a coffee table.</p>
<p>We’ve had an artificial tree for 25+ years. The current one is nearly 20 years old and still going strong. Our family tradition is to put it up the day after Thanksgiving, along with the rest of the decorations. (everything comes down on Jan 6 - Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas). We put it away with the lights on it, so it goes up quickly. To get the evergreen fragrance in the house, I put real greens on the mantel.</p>
<p>I love the artifical tree. It’s about 15 years old, and looks great–I get a LOT of compliemnts on it. It has hinged branches, and a couple of years ago I wired lights to it with floral wire (it comes apart in sections, the branches fold flat). Each section has it’s own lights, I plug them together once the tree is up. When it has to be replaced, I’ll buy a pre-lit tree, but this works well (my sister devised this for the one at our Dad’s house).<br>
The best things about the tree: DD is no longer spending New Year’s with some kind of allergy/sinus issue. I put it up the day after Thanksgiving and enjoy it for a month or more. No issues of it drying out. For scent I use Yankee Candle pine tree candles.</p>
<p>“Natural” tree here. I made the mistake when the kids were little of finding a chop down your own tree lot. They won’t have it any other way. Except for my oldest we all go to the lot, chop one down…come home to have the annual “fight with the tree because it wants to fall over”. Haul out the decorations…watch the needles fall…all over the entry hall…all two stories…</p>
<p>…smell the fresh pine…nice…</p>
<p>Haul out the menorahs…make the latkes…Christmas time is here!</p>
<p>We’ve had real trees all my life. My mother and I love the real trees and could never do artificial (I’m even contemplating getting a very small, but real tree for my apartment this year). My freshmen year, both of my parents were very sick and my dad went and just bought an artificial tree. It was up for a grand total of three days before my mom made him take it back and get a real tree- my ex ended up going to get the real tree as my dad couldn’t lift it. My mom just hated it. She said it just didn’t look or feel right. With that said, our real trees usually last a month and a half so plenty of time to enjoy them :). </p>
<p>My old sitter has a fake tree with colored lights. She got a fake one without lights and decorates it herself (well, with her family) and she loves it. Could you look for one that you decorate yourself? It seems like a good compromise. Having the tree only for a week would suck!</p>
<p>We got an artificial tree 4 years ago after I discovered I was allergic to real ones. For 20 plus years I had a major headache that started at the beginning of December and lasted the whole month. I figured it was allergies but it never dawned on me it was the Christmas tree until 4 years ago, tired of feeling terrible during the holidays I googled it and discovered that many people are allergic to the ‘stuff’ that comes in on real Xmas trees. Hubby and son aren’t thrilled with the artificial tree but they’ve been good about putting up with it. Have had no allergy problems in the month of December since.</p>
<p>More and more people we know are going to artificial trees. They look pretty real these days and are a lot less hassle than buying a real one.</p>
<p>We had an artificial tree for a few years, stored in a storage shed. It was a struggle to put away as it was heavy. Then the mice got into the storage bag and wrecked the tree wires. Last year we put up a small real tree. They are grown in our rural suburban area so it’s easy to get one that is very fresh. We put it up right after Thanksgiving, when DS is home from college and it stays up w/ needles intact until New Years. I use a preservative solution in the base, add water each day. It was actually easier than hauling the artificial tree back to the shed, through the snow, after New Years. I admit that the artificial trees with LED lights look pretty nice, but I actually don’t mind a real tree if it is kept to a reasonable size for me to handle. I get to support our local farmers and the tree is recycled after Christmas by our town. The real tree was actually a bit easier for me, than the fake tree. I did buy new LED lights, and keep the decorations relatively simple. When friends visit for New Year’s, we make putting the decorations away part of the tradition for an activity with their kids…not sure how long we can talk them into it, but so far, so good.</p>
<p>The year our first son left for college we bought our first artificial tree. We set it up the day after Thanksgiving and our son was able to be part of the festivities of decorating it. Since than it became our new tradition and all of our kids looked forward to being part of the tree decorating. Now with three sons working and daughter not around my husband and I will put the tree up and decorate it ourselves. I am thinking about putting it up Friday and having a nice brunch on Saturday so we could do it together…of course I will need to check with them to see if they have plans. The one I feel sorry for this year is my son who is in the United Emirates this Christmas who will not be able to have a Christmas, tree or anything resembling the festivities of the holiday. Midnight mass will not be the same without him. We are hoping that our daughter will join us for the holidays this year.</p>