To be fair, though I prefer incandescent lights, the big lights on my tree are LED, because I cant find the big ones in incandescent. And I am still happy with them, as they are bright and cheerful, without being neon, which so many LEDs are.

I prefer a real tree and always had one until a few years ago. I’ve gotten lazy.☹️ I now have an artificial tree.

I put my tree up on the 1st of December and take it down January 15, the day after Ukrainian New Year. I like multicoloured lights, solid, not flashing.

Here are some of my ornaments;

I still have the same cloth covered cardboard angel tree topper my son picked out when he was 3 years old at Woodward’s $1.49 Day in 1980. (We got 3 ornaments for that price)

@User 1.49 day - Woodwards! I heard the jingle as soon as I saw your post. We always had a real tree up until a few years ago when we got a Noble Fir and both my daughters and I had rashes all over our arms from decorating it. We bought an artificial tree and I have no regrets. No needles, no watering, and it is pre-lit. I like warm white lights. Red and gold balls, silver snowflakes and a ton of randome ornaments that all have some significance. I'm not finished it yet, but i will post a picture when it's done.

Neko, I think we have the same taste!

We decided to stay in Florida for Christmas. First ever artificial tree.

Random ornaments from Lowes and Home Depot

What is usually is.

The artificial can be white lights or multi which is fun.

nekotish, here you go!

We;ve always had a real tree, and one we've cut ourselves. It has to be a natural noble fir, not sheared. I've looked at artificial but there are few offered that are the right shape. Not too dense to best show my long time collection of pear ornaments. I need strong branches, with some space in between them.

My tree isn't done in Christmas colors, more like yellows, gold, a little green. I do have some partridges I add to the pears, but really little else. I probably couldn't deal with anything else. I have a lot of pears and decorating that tree, and worse, undecorating it at season's end - are time consuming.

As many white mini lights as I can possibly get onto the tree.

I have a small ornament tree I keep in the foyer to display the lovely hand embroidered ornaments my mother made for me. I have a nativity set there too - that she made.

We're running out of places to find a natural noble fir that isn't sheared. Just today, we took one from a friends tree farm but there are not many left that have not become oversized and an illness in the family has kept him from planting more. I may have to look harder during the year for an artificial tree my perfect size and desired shape ;) I did see one this year that may have worked, but it was $$$ and DH said he would miss the scent....

We caved and bought an artificial tree 2 years ago; this will be the 3rd time it's hauled down from the attic. IIRC we paid about 2x the cost of a nice local real tree. That means this year it's free, yay!

We use the colored light option. It's topped with a star. No tinsel. I have too many ornaments to put them all on every year, so there is a core "must have" group and the rest take turns. There is no theme other than pretty colors and pleasant memories.

The worst part of an artificial tree for me is the sameness year after year. I look at pics of my childhood and even though the ornaments are the same year after year the trees were all unique because they were real and different shapes and sizes. I knew after my second child was born getting DH out to find a tree would never happen in a timely manner so I gave up on the idea and purchased an artificial tree. Now each year the ornaments are the same as well as the TREE so one really can't see a difference year to year, :( compromise wins every time.

I usually get a real tree but have skipped a few years including this one. white lights, no color scheme, gold bead garland, and a fabric angel who looks like the goofy fairy godmother on top. Since no tree this year I just pulled out a few ornaments. I will miss looking at a lit tree in the evening but will revel in the no january clean-up.

I did an extra tree this year for 16 month old grandson, Red balls and polar bears on a skinny tree tucked into a corner of the living room.

Our living room tree…a Fraser Fir that smells wonderful.🎄

morz8 ^^^^ -- There is a fabulous artificial tree (IMHO) called the Noblis Fir -- notice this specific spelling please. I have had a 7-foot one of these, bought online, for the past six years. It is perfect. Like you, I prefer a tree whose branches are spaced and open enough for my ornaments (which must "hang' properly, and fill all the way into the center trunk, NOT lay along the outer plane of the branch tips!!!). This tree is exactly what I wanted -- I personally loathe the sheared look. (grin)

https://www.grandinroad.com/un-lit-noblis-fir-christmas-tree/698014 (the photo looks odd as the branches have not been "fluffed" which is an easy accomplishment)

Above is one link for a current source of the Noblis Fir -- and it is on sale now! If it is the right size for you, get it now for next year... =) At the going rate this year for a natural real tree, this is a bargain as the cost will amortize nicely thru the years ahead.

FULL DISCLOSURE NOW of my personal eccentricity: Bought mine six years ago. The first year, it was a delight to decorate and easy to tweak the branch placement. It came pre-lit, but I added more, all white. And then went to town using tons of my ornament collections. Over-done? Some would think so, perhaps, but not to me!

When I finished, I stood back and admired the gorgeous thing. And promptly decided I could not improve on this perfection, SO IT HAS BEEN LEFT IN PLACE, FULLY DECORATED, EVER SINCE. LOLOLOL. Fortunately, the living room is very large, so the tree does not impact the overall space the rest of the year. It still makes me happy every time I see it. And I don't have to lug out the decorations every year, nor put them all away again. BONUS!

At almost 77 years of age, and less than 4"10". I am totally keeping this tree as it is for the rest of my life (with a bit of dusting as needed). In fact, I doubt I could take it down anyway, as after all this time I cannot remember where the the specific ornament boxes are located by now. That will be a job for my children & grandchildren to deal with after I have shuffled off this mortal coil. (Hee-hee -- payback for all the times I had to pick us their stuff and put it away)

Would love to hear your thoughts on this artificial tree, morz8!

I like the look of that noblis fir, roxanna. do you think it is important get that style pre-lit since it may be difficult to hide the cord with such nice open branches?

I have this little 2-foot faux tree I put inside a (tall!) lantern.

lisaam -- If you are at all like me (my sympathies if you are, lol), and plan on leaving up your Noblis Fir, then all I can say is pre-lit was good for me. I have several strands of no-longer-available (boo - hiss) lights known as Branch Lights, which I added. Those were great, as they had a central wire that split into 6 branches each, and could follow the tree's inner shape quite nicely.

If, like any sane and normal person, you would be taking it down, then unless you love the hassle of putting lights on it every year, then DIY is certainly possible. But I would still recommend pre-lit. The manufacturer can hide the wires far better than I would be able to, and hiding them is important to my finicky aesthetic.

We formerly lived in an 1870-ish carriage house for over 20 years, with a living room ceiling height of +/- 13 feet. Tree was always a real one back then which we cut down ourselves and went up to the ceiling, and DH would take several days to put up the lights -- alter just a tad of untangling, lol. Then it would take me a week to fill it with ornaments (I used to buy them in multiples of 6 or 12, to fill those trees. And I cannot easily resist buying more over the years -- still. I truly have enough that they all cannot be used, and I ought to open a Xmas shop one of these days. Ah, I miss those times (not!).............

Our first Xmas tree the year of our marriage was a real one, in TEXAS, that looked nothing like my memories of a "proper" New England tree. It cost us $45 in 1968, which DH recently figured out would have cost $360 today. As a lowly AF 2nd lieutenant, even the $45 was stretching our monthly budget. But my first Xmas away from my family had to be as traditional as we could make it! =)

Well, I learned something today!

I thought all artificial trees come pre-lit and with several options for colour/white and sequence options.

Real tree with white lights.

I don't often comment, but just had to say how much I love Roxsol's frog ornie. It just sparks my imagination....love it. Thanks for highlighting it.

No traditional tree for me, real or artificial. Just no room for one in my tiny little space. But I have a couple of tabletop tree decorations - one with just sparkling mini lights (on a battery) and the other is a very rustic looking, rusted metal creation with bells that I am strangely very fond of and that usually winds up on the coffee table.

Also plenty of white fairy lights indoors, holiday candles and assorted other holiday décor.

Roxana, thank you for the shopping tip. Yes, that is the natural shape I must have. They are out of the tree, but I've bookmarked and will look for new stock throughout the next year. Again, thank you.

And I applaud your willingness to leave your tree that pleases you so much as is.

We had a neighbor for several years who put up 6-7 Christmas trees in both the home they owned when next to us, and another equally as large about an hour from here when they moved. One tree would be real and filled with all the assortment of ornaments one collects when children are in the house, along with others gifted to them by friends. That real tree was always quite tall, like 10-12 feet.

The others were artificial trees with individual themes. One all camping, fishing, outdoor related. Another all Santas, a third all snowmen - you get the idea. Those artificial trees were covered and stored the rest of the year just exactly as they stood during the holidays including the lights.

I'd never thought to ask her how they got those trees upstairs to attic storage without dropping or knocking off ornaments. Maybe she had wired them on? Her house was certainly lovely for annual Christmas party though, it looked like she had decorated for days.

We always have a real tree. Going out to find the perfect tree is always a treat for us! After we bring it home, make a fresh cut on the trunk and get it into the stand, we bring it into the living room to "relax" and soak up water from its stand.

Our lights are two 100 light strands in several colors. The ornaments are ones we have both from our childhoods and ones we have purchased over the years. While hanging the ornaments, we reminisce about where and when we got the ornaments, and search for a very sturdy branch to hang some of the heavier ornaments.

Getting up in the morning and smelling the pine scent, it just is the holidays!