We have got our fresh cut tree at Costco the last few years. While they seem to have got smaller ( A few were so tall and fat!) they seem to last well.
At Costco this year - the highest $ year ever- we paid $50. I hesitated a little. Just a couple years ago they were like $35. It’s a 7-8 ft tree and while I picked what seemed to be the fattest one wrapped, it’s not too fat - but a great shape.
What surprised me and ticked me off a little… usually they go SO fast at Costco if you don’t get them the weekend or week after thanksgiving you’re out of luck - well a few days ago someone posted that they were getting rid of the rest (2 weeks before Christmas) for $20! I hope someone who really needed a deal got one.
Where I live in the DC area, they typically go for about $10/foot at nurseries, temporary tree lots, less at places like Home Depot where selection is not nearly as good.
We cut down a live tree every year. This year we went the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and were amazed it wasn’t very crowded.
We only have 1 tree, and it’s a combo of kids ornaments we got them for many years, photos, travel ornaments, etc. I have lots of bear ornaments, and could do an entire tree in bears.
This year our tree is the “practicing for grandkids tree.” We got a COVID kitten (she’s 10 months old now), and she thinks it’s great fun to pull the ornaments off and run around the house with them. She will stand on her hind legs and can reach pretty far. So, we only have non-breakable ornaments, as someone else with a cat visiting mentioned up thread.
We used to do more outside, but now just do candles in the windows. I did decorate the mantle this year, but it was sad knowing we may have no kids home with us.
We always get a real tree, and when our kids were little did the whole walk through the tree farm and pick one, which led to arguments almost every year. (We are evenly divided on what a proper size is)
Tree this year is a forlorn, misshapen, unloved one. I saw it and said “I want that one” and DH says " Yeah, that one needs us" I wasn’t going to have a tree, but my MIL made us promise to get one and it was not a hill I was going to die on, so we promised. And this stumpy tree is now my COVID Christmas emblem, and I love it, so she was right.
Ornaments made, collected, gifted. There are ornaments the kids made that always hang on the back of the tree because as little people they thought that was the “best” place. There are little felt animals my grandmother made – my Mom saved a bunch and as her grandchildren had trees of their own, she mailed them some. And all of our family weddings have had some sort of decoration that became ornaments.
It’s a stumpy lopsided tree, but that’s okay. I cried when we were putting it in the truck and apologized as I paid, and the guy goes “We get a lot of sad people this year, it’s okay”
We always get the fattest tree we can find/afford and then my kids go to town on it. White lights, skinny colored lights and far colored lights (we call them Charlie Brown lights), ornaments from when they were little and from every place we’ve lived. It’s probably over decorated by many people’s standards but it is perfect for us. As soon as it’s finished and lit we take our annual family picture in front of it. It’s one of my favorite traditions.
Since my daughter will not be home until very close to Christmas, I had the responsibility of selecting the tree. I narrowed it down to two and then we facetimed to pick out the winner. The guys at the tree stand were very helpful with this. It is far from perfect (has a little bare spot, not perfectly symmetrical, etc.), but I think that is part of the charm of a live tree instead of a fake one. I think it will be great once she has decorated it and put on enough lights so you can see it from outer space (we say that every year - you can never have too many lights on a tree).
I do remember the tedious job of putting together our fake tree as a child. Each branch had to be inserted at the right level and they were color coded. Lots of discussion of is this orange or is this red, etc. Which color goes on next, etc.
We converted to a fake tree a year ago and I’m never looking back. I can put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving and it stays up until Epiphany without shedding needles all over and being a fire hazard. We got a Balsam Hill unlighted one so we can change the lights if we want. The first year, you have to spend a long time fluffing out the branches, but this year it took much less time and looks great. I miss the spruce scent but compensate by burning scented candles (recommend Thymes Frasier Fir candle and Capri Blue Fir and Firewood–both very nice and not cloying).
The charm of a home tree is the homemade ornaments and mementoes. I don’t like home trees that look like hotel or mall decorations. A home tree should not be “perfect,” it should reflect the lives of the family. We have travel memento ornaments, ornaments my DD made out of ice cream spoons and popsicle sticks in elementary school, my mom’s needlepoint ornaments, B & G Danish porcelain ornaments, and three strings of Danish flags (Dannebrog) that my Danish grandparents always had on their tree.
One thing I won’t do is tinsel. This has caused some tensions in my marriage:)
Same here @NJSue. We did a real tree until 20 years ago. We still have that tree and it still look great. I love being able to put it up when I feel like it and not worrying about lights, etc. it’s just so easy and I’m kind of lazy that way.
I love a natural tree. The evergreen scent is Christmas to me. I also love wandering the big tree lots, wandering up and down the lanes and enjoying the pine and woody scents. But this year, my usual tree lot, was a drive-through. We never got out of the car. I told them I wanted a noble fir about 6 feet. They brought a couple up to the car. I selected one. They loaded it and I drove away.
I did read that Christmas trees are selling well this year. People aren’t traveling so more are putting up a tree.