i prefer a fake tree. less mess to clean up after the holidays. i buy fresh cut greens to make centerpieces. that way i have the piney fragrance all through the house. ;)

We bought a fake on about 4 years ago, something I vowed I would never do. But once tree prices hit $45 for a barely acceptable one, plus the fact that DW has a lot of heavy ornaments that real tree branches can not support, I knuckled under and did the deed.

Detest fake....we always get a 6-8 ft. real tree, I love the smell.
My parents always bought real trees, too.

I PREFER real, but have a fake :( With all my beautiful glass ornaments, it still looks nice!

Real ones are lovely--but have gotten too expensive and are too messy and I have allergies. We may, once we move, get the live real ones that can be planted after the holiday--we can put it on the sunporch so I can avoid too much contact with the allergens--LOL.

We have several fake trees. My favorite is one that looks like a scrub pine. it's very unusual, but so appropriate as we live near the Jersey Pinelands. It's a very natural-looking tree, with snow on the branches and a REAL tree trunk (bark and all). I only use natural, outdoorsy looking ornaments on it--feathered birds, nuts, etc.

One of the HUGE advantages of fake trees is that you don't have to decorate and undecorate every year. We just drop a big plastic bag over our DECORATED trees, and prop them in a corner in the basement or attic until next year. Takes 5 minutes to put the tree up, and 5 to take it down. Right there, is one of the main reasons I like the fakes.

As kids growing up my dad was a truck driver and always took a canadian route around the holidays. He would bring back a real tree for us but after he passed away mom went to a fake tree. It was a bit challenging at first but mostly because of the change in routine. I keep fake myself to this day. Have several different ones and which one goes up will depend on the room it's going into. The dining room is the largest but if we're entertaining alot I can't keep one in there. This year we put it up in the family room which is smaller. It's a 7 foot slim on a rotating stand. Goes up and comes down relatively easy and makes clean up so much easier. With 10 cats it's heavy enough that we've never had a spill and becuase it goes around, they don't climb into it.

I'd love to have a real tree but I'm allergic to pine (and pine products, like gin).

We put up a tree last year (12 ft) after 14 years without a tree but won't be putting it up this year. New kitten is a climber and there's no way I could get him to not climb it.

I bought a real one that was in a planted pot. I did not know it must be kept in the house. It is a Norfolk Island Pine. I found it at Home Depot. I thought it was pretty so I bought it, but little did I know it was a needy little thing. Not to worry though, as I bought a huge pot for the darling little thing and read all about it and have done my best to make it happy. I have put tiny little ornaments on it, but no lights. I missed having lights so I put up our fake tree. I still did not get out of putting that fake tree up..(giggle)

Had real trees the entire time kids were growing up. about 3 or 4 years ago went to fake. Easier up and down, can leave it up as long as I want and no pine needles in the foot months later.

Also, very allergic. I suffered with headaches, coughing and hives up and down my arms on my neck and head because of real trees. But the kids loved it coz we went to the tree farm, picked our own, cut it down and brought it home. And that was worth it to me.

We had real trees when I was young, then we figured out that the reason everyone in the family got sick at Christmas was allergies to the tree. We've been using artificial ever since.

I too love real trees, and like Fun2BHere, it took me a few years to figure out why I always felt so lousy at Christmas time. So we have a fake one, just bought a new one this year, of course with lights already on it. We have not put up a tree since my mother died, this will be a tough one to do. And even more so with 3 kittens in the house. Hope mom keeps an eye on them when we are in bed!

Neither now.

Used to have live trees, that we planted in the yard after Christmas.

Growing up we always had a real tree. Back then I doubt if there were fake trees. My DF always made a stand for the tree using 2x4's. One year that stand would not balance properly so he actually nailed it to the floor. In all the years that I saw him put a tree up, I still remember that one specifically.

It was tradition, at least in our family, that the tree was put up on Christmas Eve, but not decorated until all of us children were in bed and asleep. Then DM and DF decorated it and put the presents under it. That was so we would "know" that Santa Claus had done all that!

After I was married and had children we had real trees for many years. Then went to fake which we decorated, covered with a sheet and took to the attic for the next year. Now living alone and somewhat slowed down, I have a small pre-lit tree which is kept in the garage from year to year.

I still use some of the old ornaments. The angel on the top is 65 years old.

Sue

I love real trees but they are such a hassle to put up and take down, clean up so I finally got a cheapo fake tree. Then year before last or was it the year before? Can't remember now, I bought a nicer tree on sale. It looks real and is absolutely beautiful.

Always and forever real trees. I am a tree lover and never would have an artificial one. But I have none now because I chose not to all the work decorating when i spent Xmas at my DDs. I have greens everywhere, The ecological way IS live trees which are grown and would not be grown as a crop. While they're growing they serve to clean the air, provide wildlife refuge and help with soil erosion. Afterward they are ground up and used back in the earth. Fake trees end up in landfills.

It would be fake..I got tired of still finding needles in the carpet in July.....

I'm with Dees 1, no big tree this year....The 2 older cats were fine with the tree last year but with the new fur baby, there is no way she'd leave the tree alone....We do have a small fiber optic that I usually put in the window so that might be it....Hopefully next year.....
Of course I'll miss seeing of all my oranments but I really don't want to take a chance and have them broken.....

REAL! REAL LIVE>.. we bought some live potted ones before, but have no more room on our property to plant anymore! lol

this year it will be fake, I am borrowing one from my friend, she bought a new fake this year and is letting me borrow the old one, as my doctors WON"T liet me have a real one!

Prefer real, have fake. Grew up with real and had real for many years, then started working in retail and after enough of people and their attitudes at holiday time I had nothing. Then about 5 or 6 years ago got a little more "spirit" and bought a small fake tree at a garage sale for $4. Have had that up most every year since. Last year I bought some more decorations. Being out of retail has helped my attitude if not others'.

Real, every year.

We are buying it tonight and it will be up until after January 1st.

I am totally in agreement with this:
"The ecological way IS live trees which are grown and would not be grown as a crop. While they're growing they serve to clean the air, provide wildlife refuge and help with soil erosion. Afterward they are ground up and used back in the earth. Fake trees end up in landfills."

Supporting an American crop instead of buying Chinese plastic works for me!

Hey dees...is it only pine products that cause you problems? If so...you're safe with the GIN! Yay! (Gin is from junipers.)

We cut our own when growing up, never had a fake tree.

As an adult, I preferred a live potted tree. We don't have a tree at all now.

Mostly artificial trees all my life, once in a while a real tree. Even when I was home it was a small artificial one. I can still remember my Grandma's little artificial tree.

Sue

Since moving into this house we always get a real one and it is usually about 7 ft or taller. We have an atrium in the center of the house that is windows on all sides and open at the top so we put the tree in the center of the atrium so it is really outside. It looks so pretty and it does better since it can get rained on or snowed but that does not happen much here. And it gets decorated by nature, the trees drop leaves and pine needles and pine cones etc onto it. We put lots of lights on it but not many decorations we like the more natural look.
When we looked at this house to buy my husband said if we get this house I am putting a big Christmas tree in that atrium now he does just that every year. IT can be seen from just about every room.
Other than the tree and wreaths on the doors and some mantle decorations we don't do much other decorating.
I gave most all of my stuff away on our last move.
I do usually have at least one poinsettia.

Raven, is there any chance you could post a picture of your atrium....with or without the tree?

I'm trying to picture part of the inside of your home that is open to the elements. How very cool!!

Real. Never had a fake one, either growing up or as an adult.

Real, but the last few years I have used fake. The fake can stay up longer but I miss the smell of the real ones.

We've had both. After Harry "lost" the box that held the decorations I'd collected for years, most of them Hallmark pretty ones, but also ornaments from every vacation we'd taken together and things my daughter and grandkids made. It made me so sick I not only got a fake tree, but it's white. I decorate it with purple and aqua decorations and it's really pretty, but not very Christmas-y, but I like it.

Jasdip I will try to remember to take a picture this time of our tree once it is up and lit. I do not have any pics of the atrium that I remember, I should have taken some when all my plants were so pretty in bloom this summer.
the house is a mid century modern by a well known architect of that style house and those were known for having atrium's in them. My first time with this style of home. My little dog loves it though she has her very own outdoor room to go play in.

Had real ones growing up and when the kids were little Fake after tht and prefer them but like a few branches from a real tree to scent up the house

Fake, but gave my brother the big one we bought at Wards
years ago, and now have a slender one for the corner and a
smaller fiber optic one for a family room table.
Real trees were getting expensive and didn't have a very
strong scent plus the needles mess, fire hazard and weren't
lasting long.
(I have some nice Yankee candles in Cedar& Balsam and Christmas Wreath scents.)

Real for us.

We started out with real but Dh came from a family that would get the "Charlie Brown" tree (five or six branches) and I came from a family that always had the "perfect" tree. My dad would remove branches from the bottom and drill holes in the trunk if need be to give the tree the perfect shape. Shopping for a tree with DH became a hassle. Sometimes I would have to go to several tree lots to find the one I wanted. Then came the 70's with the shag carpeting and I succumbed to the artificial because vacuuming needles in shag carpeting seemed an impossibility. It made tree time much more pleasant in our household, too. Then we moved to PA and right behind us was a tree farm. I put up the artificial in the family room early December and Christmas Eve when everyone was in bed, i snuck in a live tree for the living room, decorated it, and put some of Santa's presents under it. When DH went into the LR to turn on the Christmas music he said kids, come see what's in here. They were all surprised and later that day each one when asked separately what their favorite present was that year said the real tree. That became a tradition for many years. the artificial in the family room and the live one in the living room. At one point I had five trees. Now, I'm down to a table top, but it's a pretty big table top one and I'm happy with it. Everyone says how great a real one smells but to tell you the truth, I think it smells good for about a day, and then you don't smell anything anymore. Even when I bring in fresh greens it smells good for a very short period. Not worth all the extra trouble IMO.

We have artificial trees as well, we usually have a few foster cats in the house and though they will still be interested in the trees they seem to lose interest in them more quickly than the real ones.

"Supporting an American crop instead of buying Chinese plastic works for me!"

Don't break your arm waving that flag, some are made here in good ole US of A. Ours are.

I work in the Christmas tree tent at Home Depot. Get plenty of real tree smell in. :)

But all my decorations are in the storage unit, way in, where I can not get to them. Since I truly don't want to buy new, I am considering not putting a tree up.

Now, for those that like the real tree smell and all, if you have a HD nearby you might check, if they do like ours, and let people take the trimmings. We trim some of the lower branches as well as putting a fresh cut across the bottom for our customers (yes, that means I get to use a chain saw), and we let people take those trimmings free of charge.

Moni

Georgysmom, you said exactly what I suspected. I don't find the smell lingers, or is very smelly at all, with real trees. Even when I see a real one, I have to go right up to it and sniff it.
It would be nice if the whole room smelled festive, but I've never experienced that.

I own two fake trees- a giant 7 footer that's very heavy, just too much work and a table top tree I bought last year. Loved it, I bought ornaments at the 99 cent store, it went up and down in about ten minutes each way. This year DH wants a real tabletop tree. Too early to even buy it- it would lose all its needles by Chrisytmas.

My fake tree is staying in the box this year. Big puppy Jetty (57 pounds - 27" at the shoulder) gets into everything. I came home today and he had chewed up a big box of matches that was left on the counter and had chewed holes into a Diet Pepsi can. I would hate to see the vet bill for removing glass ornaments from his belly or gums. I guess I will haul out a few decorations tomorrow after hubby goes to work though.

I always have put up a live tree - small but live. However, I will travel to my daughter's so will bite the bullet and buy a small fake tree for this year only though.

rhizo, gin makes me SOOOO sick (and no, not from drinking too much). I get really sick 30 minutes after drinking it. I've not been tested for allergies but pine trees make my head all stopped up and I can't breathe (at all)

Because gin is from juniper berries, I stay away from all food products related to juniper berries. Trust me, it's not a fun thing to go through.

I would rather have a real tree...but I'd rather just my old one and have a little more money to spend on my grands.

This one is soooo old and I was rather tired of it...so this year I sprayed it with fake snow.

It looks just like the trees outside. (we got a good snow yesterday and the outside trees look beautiful)

Not finished decorating my tree yet...

It's done it all white and silver this year...but the TV reflected a blue color on it. There is no blue on my tree.