<p>I noticed that the lots in my neighborhood are crammed full of big trees.Big, expensive trees. Considering that at least half the schools in the city also sell trees for fundraisers ( winter- not xmas decorations- lol), that many dont get a tree- I am wondering why they decided to stock so many.</p>
<p>We havent got a tree for a while, because we are were gone for the holidays ( although when the kids were little, we did have a tree & Santa would put tinsel on it while we were gone), & I think I am going to drag a spruce in from its pot on the porch, unless I see a pretty good deal on a cut tree.
But I remember really liking trees, when I was still living at my parents house, I even would have one in my bedroom.
A couple times we have gone out to a tree farm to cut our own , but while that was fun, now it sounds too much like work!</p>
<p>When I was growing up in Connecticut, my parents planted 500 Christmas trees in the back yard in 1965. When I was off to college in 1973, those trees provided a lot of spending money. </p>
<p>It’s a nostalgia thing … I really need the fresh tree for it to feel like Christmas.</p>
<p>I get mine from my deck. It’s a live tree in a big pot that we keep on our deck due to convenience for bringing it in and out. We had one tree we used for 15 years or so that finally died due to being totally root bound in the pot but we had another one going that we used for the first time last year. The old one was about 10 feet tall and the new one about 5 feet tall but it’ll grow larger eventually. We elevated this one on a short table so it would be a couple feet taller in the room.</p>
<p>Although not the perfect scuplted tree, the live tree is much more environmentally friendly, safer (since it’s not a dead dried out tree), way less expensive, much more convenient since it takes only about 2 minutes to bring it in or out, and much more full of character with its yearly idiosyncrasies in its growth. </p>
<p>I recommend people consider using a live tree instead of a dead or artificial one.</p>
<p>1.My parents used a seedling from a tree from their home in the suburbs. They potted it and let it grow at their condo and took it inside for the holidays. It was enormous and my dad used a dolly to cart it in with friends every year. It is now planted outside their condo. They have both passed away, and so it grows.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My son’s in-laws to be cut a tree down from their woods and bring it in…little ones mind you but fresh and beautiful.</p></li>
<li><p>I have a plastic one I put up every year. I live on an island with protected forests. The forestry department does sell branches but I gave that up and bought a “tree.” Branches just don’t do the same thing! But they smell.</p></li>
<li><p>I read a beautiful picture book by Eve Bunting called “Night Tree.” A family goes out on Christmas eve to decorate a tree in the forest with ornaments made out of seeds, popcorn and consumables. They spread a blanket on the ground, sing some carols and drink hot chocolate and leave the ornaments for the animals. I really liked the sentiments of this story. If I had a yard, this is what I would do with grandchildren in the future. I recommend the book. Check it out at your local library!</p></li>
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<p>I grew up on the East Coast. My church youth group used to cut down a bunch of trees from a farm that let us do it and then sell them for five bucks each out of the church parking lot. When I moved to California I was appalled at the cost of a fresh tree. They can go from 100 dollars and up.<br>
A few years ago when no one even wanted to go to the tree farm with me anymore I bought a fake one. I can put it up by myself, it doesn’t shed and I’m not forking over $150 every year.</p>
<p>When I was a child, we would cut a cedar tree off family acreage in the country.
Then we switched to an artificial tree but I always missed the real thing.</p>
<p>DH and I always get a Fraser Fir. When our boys were young, we’d drive a couple of hours to the mountains to a “cut your own” tree farm. They grew up and lost interest in tree decorating so we started buying locally.</p>
<p>For the last six years, we have found our local grocery store to have the best deal.
We have our tree sitting out back in a bucket of water right now. Tomorrow is decoration day. Our tree is about seven feet tall and cost $30 at the gro. store.
It’s not very quaint or picturesque picking through the bunched up trees next to an asphalt parking lot but the deal and convenience can’t be beat. Once it’s decorated, every tree is pretty…even Charlie Brown’s :)</p>
<p>It’s really big and beautiful and thick, and everyone thinks it’s real. We can put it up early and not worry about it dying. And no needles to contend with. The only thing I miss is the smell of a real tree.</p>
<p>One time my H went to a tree farm, picked one out, took it home, and discovered it had grown up on a hill. The angle of that thing was crazy! That tree kept falling over, day after day. So, that was it. Now it’s Stew Leonard’s for us. (much fresher than our local church.)</p>
<p>Our routine: go really, really early in the morning. On the way home, stop off at ihop for the annual breakfast. My sons love that routine so much that now we have to wait 'til they come home from college. Wouldn’t dare get a tree w/out them!</p>
<p>We cut ours down every year at a tree farm… got it today. </p>
<p>Last year we ran out of time and had to go get one from a lot. I regretted it horribly - needles were coming off if you just breathed near the tree. This is the first year we brought home our freshly cut tree in my car (used to use H’s truck, but he sold it). I absolutely LOVE having the tree smell in my car now, although I did already vacuum out all the needles. </p>
<p>This is our biggest tree ever. I may use all my lights and ornaments for once.</p>
<p>I always get a real tree. It’s what I grew up with and I love the smell.
A couple times we cut them at tree farms. The first time was a disaster–H brought a huge snow-covered/spider-infested tree into our small apartment. The spiders hatched and were all over the place, the carpet was soaked from the melting snow, and the tree was unstable/too big for the stand and fell on our toddler D, who said the tree tried to “eat” her! One year H didn’t want to pay for a tree so I cut a prickly, bad-smelling cedar bush on the side of the road.</p>
<p>We put our tree up late–a few days before Christmas. Our recent (10 years) holiday tradition is to get the biggest cheapest tree at WalMart when they lower the prices. I never fail to find a nice one for $5-$10. </p>
<p>(H’s family tradition was to take the kids around to the lots on Christmas Eve and get a free tree. . .)</p>
<p>H now refuses to have anything to do with getting the tree, decorating. Last year he made such a big deal about cutting the end off the trunk (all that sawing/cussing/hard work!!) that I drew an outline of “The Scream” on the piece he cut off, wrapped it up and gave it to him for Christmas. (He was not amused, but the kids were.)</p>
<p>The trees my parents planted came through a state agency – maybe the DEP? We paid a few pennies per tree, had to have our acreage approved, and were barred from selling the with the roots on. Selling as cut Christmas trees was encouraged. The idea was erosion prevention – keeping the roots in the ground nourished the land.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, my little town in NJ has several tree farms , but I prefer to go to the local mom & pop nursery and get a balsam ( love the smell ) we had at times gone to the local farms , but the last time I did that , got the driest tree ever. Literally all the needles came off by the time I dragged it outside ( and I take it down by the 2nd of Jan )</p>
<p>In our area most every Boy Scout troop has a site where trees, wreaths, and swags are sold. If we are going to be home throughout the holidays we get a tree from our local troop, but if we travel we (sadly) have to settle for the artificial tree (gotta light some balsam Yankee Candles to get the smell)…</p>
<p>We had to give up on real trees many years ago…D2 has mold allergy and cough variant asthma. DH and I were opposed to getting a fake tree, but who would want a child in the house to suffer over the holidays?</p>
<p>The tree is now around 10 years old, and it is wonderfully full and real looking. It’s provided a lot of freedom during jam packed weekends leading up to the holidays - we’ve estimated it saves at least 3-4 hours of ‘hunting’ (the OCD person in the house needed to find THE PERFECT TREE SPECIMEN) and ‘erecting’…you know, they never go into that tree stand very easily. And then, of course, you can leave a fake tree up until Valentine’s day and they don’t become fire hazards.</p>
<p>We had rotten weather here yesterday - lots of snow, some black ice. It was such a joy to just haul that friend up from the basement and slowly put her together, and hang all those sparkly thingies on her and then admire her by a warm fire.</p>
<p>I am contemplating no tree this year. Our kitchen is being remodelled and I can’t stand the chaos and I think a tree would make it worse not better; D is going to New Mexico with a friend on the 24th; S has never cared about a tree; H says he doesn’t care… </p>
<p>But I want the normalcy of a tree after months of chaos…</p>
<p>So I’m torn.</p>
<p>Previous years we have gotten the biggest Noble Fir we could fit–but late in the season when only the imperfect trees are left. We had a tree farm just around the corner at the house we just sold, and we’d go down there around the 20th. Two years ago, the only Noble Fir they had was a specimen tree (about 12 feet tall!) in front of their house that I’d admired when I drove by… $60 and it was mine. (The next spring they had a little grove there.)</p>
<p>This year I’m thinking maybe a live tree and some lights outside on the patio, but I don’t know where I’d plant a live tree after Christmas, since Noble Firs grow to 80 feet. I may check into keeping it in a pot for a few years of use, then finding it a nice home on a farm in the country ;-)</p>
<p>When I was growing up, my grandfather used part of his property as a Christmas tree farm. I remember going out to our grandparents’ house to pick out a beautiful spruce tree. (The last time I went by their property, about 15 years ago - both my grandparents have passed away - those trees were huge: no longer Christmas tree sized!)</p>
<p>For the past 23 years I’ve used an artificial tree. I don’t know how the darn thing has kept its looks, but it is as beautiful as ever. Honestly, it looks like a real tree. When it gets to the point that it is no longer useable, I’m going with a living tree. I don’t have the heart to cut down a perfectly good living tree, but I understand why others love the smell of a fresh tree. :)</p>
<p>Artificial tree in our home. While I would love the smell of a real tree, I break out in hives when I would touch/decorate it…and I’m the only one in the house that wanted to decorate a tree. Now, I really don’t care if I put up a tree or not.</p>
<p>Tree farm here. I’m all about real snow, real trees, Many of the farmers keep an acre or so to grow Christmas trees so they are abundant and it’s easy to go pick one out. Love the smell, too! We’ve got a boatload of them on our land, but if you don’t “prune” them into Christmas tree shape they take up an entire room and if you don’t thin them out they get flat sides and my husband isn’t “into” cultivating a Christmas tree just for us so we pay someone else LOL.</p>