Master Index of Archived Threads


Christmas tree shopping

Artificial tree

7 votes

Real tree

4 votes

41Forever Dec 17 2018 06:46 AM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Dec 17 2018 07:54 AM

My daughter and I enjoyed our annual Christmas tree hunt adventure yesterday. We make an afternoon of it, heading to a local tree farm. The family owning the farm does it right, with someone dressed as Santa driving you out into the fields on a wagon pulled by a tractor, then helping you bring your tree back. They have exotic animals like goats and sheep to check out. My son was never that into it, and would pick the first tree he saw, possibly as we pulled into the parking lot. My daughter, on the other hand, likes to explore the fields debating the merits of the various types of trees before selecting a section, then selecting the tree. There are some years where there is deep snow, this year we had mud. One year my church started selling trees as a fundraiser, and I felt obligated to buy one. But I missed the tradition. I like getting a real tree. They're not perfectly shaped, sometimes with spots that are a little bare. Each year it's a little different. But there's something cool about how it fills the house with the pine tree fragrance. I'd miss that if we got an artificial tree. And Michigan is one of the top Christmas tree-producing states, so it's a big deal here. My parents, however, are very happy with their pre-lit, artificial tree from Costco that is up in minutes. What do you guys do for trees?

Centerfield Dec 17 2018 07:39 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

Great idea for a thread. My parents always had an artificial tree. Every year I would ask for a real tree, and every year they said no. I told myself when I have my own family, I would get a real tree every year. When my son was born, I went out and got a huge real tree. It looked fantastic. But then I realized that I can't stand the smell of real pine. Everyone else in the world likes it. I can't stand it. The next year I tried it again, just in case we had gotten a bad tree. I hated it again. So between that, and the needles (which we cleaned up until like May), we decided to go back to artificial. We have a really nice one. There's one section where I have a Mr. Met ornament, a Syracuse ornament, and a Star Wars ornament. I love it.

DocTee Dec 17 2018 07:46 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

When I was a kid we had an artificial tree that we put up on Christmas Eve (this itself a relic to the Great Depression, when my grandparents would wait until the last minute to get the best deal). In my teenage years I delivered trees from a Manhattan street corner-- there's an interesting economic cycle: prices are high just after Thanksgiving, then drop steadily until around mid-December (when everyone is buying and competition is fierce), rising again as the selection thins, until they plummet as the holiday draws near. Now, we have real trees-- and I miss the tradition of Christmas Eve decorating, but I have no idea how we did it all those years.

41Forever Dec 17 2018 07:59 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

Centerfield wrote: Great idea for a thread. My parents always had an artificial tree. Every year I would ask for a real tree, and every year they said no. I told myself when I have my own family, I would get a real tree every year. When my son was born, I went out and got a huge real tree. It looked fantastic. But then I realized that I can't stand the smell of real pine. Everyone else in the world likes it. I can't stand it. The next year I tried it again, just in case we had gotten a bad tree. I hated it again. So between that, and the needles (which we cleaned up until like May), we decided to go back to artificial. We have a really nice one. There's one section where I have a Mr. Met ornament, a Syracuse ornament, and a Star Wars ornament. I love it. My tree this year actually smells like oranges. I kid you not. My daughter noticed it out in the field. I asked the cashier about the type of tree, and she said it's a special breed that is designed for people with allergies. I have no idea about the science of it all, by thought it was pretty cool. I do have an artificial tree for the baseball tree, which is covered in Mets ornaments -- and other stuff my wife banned from the upstairs tree.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 17 2018 09:47 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

We get a real tree every year, as wasteful as the whole process is. We buy from these French Canadians who set up shop in a lot in our hood every year. We have had good luck most years although last year we bought the thing a week earlier than we should have, got lazy on the watering, and by xmas the thing was a droopy needle dropping mess, easily the worst tree we ever had. Our tree this year was so freshly cut it still had Canadian snow on the branches and its small but well shaped and smells like Quebec.

Edgy MD Dec 17 2018 10:21 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

One of the cool things about Christmas trees — and this has been true for 100 years — is that all of the farms are up north, in New England and Canada, and the giant northwest states. Rarely will you see one south of, say, Pennsylvania. (Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, and 4channers loved her for it, until she endorsed a Democrat this past election and now she's dead to them.) That in itself isn't so cool, but what it means is that northeasterners get top-shelf trees, and as the trains travel south, the pickings get slimmer and slimmer, with the Georgians and the Floridians getting last choice — not only the trees that were weakest at the time of harvest, but trees that have degraded on the trip down. Suck it, Mar-a-Lago.

Rockin' Doc Dec 17 2018 10:34 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

There are numerous tree farms in the western NC mountains so purchasing nice, fresh trees isn't much of a problem here. We purchased real trees for 15- 20 years, but I always found string the lights to be a royal pain. So roughly 10 years ago we purchased a very nice 8.5' prelit tree that goes up in a matter of minutes. Now putting up and decorating the tree is actually enjoyable. And there are no pine needles (or worse pine sap) to clean up which is an added bonus.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 17 2018 10:41 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

Side question: Hanging lights: Top down or bottom up? We switched this year after an intense debate but curious as to the CW on this

d'Kong76 Dec 17 2018 11:22 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

Artificial, burn a Yankee Candle for real pine effect.

d'Kong76 Dec 17 2018 11:23 AM Re: Christmas tree shopping

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Side question: Hanging lights: Top down or bottom up? Top down, of course...

sharpie Dec 17 2018 12:50 PM Re: Christmas tree shopping

Real tree, top down.

41Forever Dec 17 2018 02:14 PM Re: Christmas tree shopping

I'm trying to figure out the top-down part. I start by plugging in the strand, then going around and up. I stick them deep into the tree. I want to see the light -- but not the bulb, if that makes sense.

Lefty Specialist Dec 17 2018 03:19 PM Re: Christmas tree shopping

I have a REALLY real tree. I buy a balled tree complete with roots from a garden center. My son and his friends haul it in every year. Afterwards, it gets planted in the backyard. The hole is already dug This is, I believe, the 17th year I've been doing it. 11 of the previous 16 trees have survived. The first one is now 40 feet tall, and a couple others are 25 feet or so. We bring it in the weekend before Christmas and take it out after New Years. Live trees can't be indoors for more than 14 days or so, or they'll think it's spring. I have a forest in my backyard to show for it, and it gives me a certain amount of pride. (And an aching back for a day or two, but it's worth it.) As for lights, ALWAYS top down. When my son was little, I used to put him on my shoulders to put the star on top. Now, he just reaches up and puts it on himself. Sigh.

d'Kong76 Dec 17 2018 06:47 PM Re: Christmas tree shopping

17 years of trees in the backyard is a bullet of cool. Here's our 2018 fugazi... [fimg=550:1es3ewrq]http://www.kcmets.com/CPF/121718a.png[/fimg:1es3ewrq]

Fman99 Dec 17 2018 07:40 PM Re: Christmas tree shopping

We have had the same tree for ten years or so. It lives in a a bag in our garage for 11 months of the year. It's a "tree." We've never bothered with a real one mostly due to the hassle and the idea that our cat would maul it and or have intercourse with it.