I was wondering this as buying real ones yearly get sometimes pretty pricey
I’ve had artificial pretty much my whole life.
The last two were both hand me down trees, and in turn I handed down the tree I had.
We get a real one from our neighbor, he does yardwork & sod most of the year but at Christmas he gets some trees to sell from some guy he knows in N Carolina and they are always amazing all of them. Yes it costs a lot, we have a large family who come for Christmas and it’s nice, I categorize the expense as entertaining.
When I was poor, I would just make a “tree” each year out of something. One year the coat rack, one year on the wall in construction paper, one year I found a inflatable one like a beach ball, one year my ex cut the top off a bush & hedged it into a cone - that went on for almost 20 years, always something different. My kids didn’t mind at all, nobody ever said “you need a tree” only “cool”. You don’t need a tree. Don’t feel obligated at all.
At work I have a wee artificial one.
Artificial. Real trees are a colossal pain in the ass.
Neither
I bought an artificial one second-hand which felt like the most sustainable option - not cutting a tree down every year and not paying for virgin plastic either. Charity shops here are usually filled with pretty nice ones since a lot of people seem to replace their plastic trees far more frequently than they should.
No
deleted by creator
My family has always done artificial. We don’t have the tree we had when In was a child, which was a big tree that took up a good portion of the living room. We had a lot of light strings and a lot of ornaments. The base had a thing that allowed it to slowly spin and it was amazing, after it was up and decorated.
Now we have a small artificial tree that is a lot newer and not anywhere near as impressive and maybe a quarter or less of the size. It’s still good because it brings out some holiday spirit.
Have always had artificial. My parents still use the same tree they used when I was a kid. When my wife and I bought our own place we invested in a good quality artificial and I expect it to last just as long.
Real trees are a nice idea but I’ve seen far too many horror stories about them causing fires, and even if they don’t go up in flames they still drop needles and insects everywhere. Why take the risk?
My family bought a miniature real one two years ago so we’ll probably keep using it. It’s a bit of a hassle to water and take care of throughout the year, but I like it, the water is probably still cheaper than buying a whole new tree, real or artificial. It looks cute and is (obviously) easy to decorate.
I grew up with real ones but became lazy. Plus I lived for a long time in a 22m2 studio and no real tree would fit so we bought a skinny artifical one. A realistic one with some asymmetric branches and high quality stiff needles.
Still going strong after 10+ years and moving twice, will probably last another decade.
Real, but I keep it in a pot and it goes outside the rest of the year. It’s about 3.5’ tall at the moment and gets a little bigger each year. I’ve had it for 4 years now
Same, except that once it gets too big we take it out to my parents’ house in the mountains and plant it there. So far one has died and one is surviving and happily growing.
That sounds excellent… i might pitch that to my wife for next year.
Never bothered with putting a tree up, but I’ve always kinda wanted to steal this idea:
I gotta say…
This was a triumph.
We have a cat tree we use. So artificial.
a real one might not survive a cat.
that is so adorable, ive been seeing that all over social media would you say its worth the money?
I got it last year for $90. It was up for ~2 months. Cats loved it. Got it back out a couple weeks ago, it is not used as much this year as last, but it does still get used.
I would totally say it was worth it.
I feel like I’m “not allowed” either.
I grew up in a very religious household/extended family. When I was 19, I became agnostic. But I actually really enjoy the Christmas season and decorations. It doesn’t have a religious tie to me, but it has a nostalgic tie to me.
My husband is VERY jaded/exhausted/raged by Christianity as a whole. Their very existence pisses him off. So naturally, Christmas pisses him off.
But in a fantasy world where we could all get past this bullshit – I’d honestly be happy with either. I grew up with artificial trees, but real trees always seemed better. But killing trees to be a decoration in your home for a month seems wrong…
Final answer- artificial tree would be my choice if I decorated.
It doesn’t have to be a religious celebration. Just copy the USSR and celebrate the parts of Christmas you want (putting up a tree, gift exchanges) on New Years.
While I certainly feel the rage, the tree is yet another decoration the Christians copped from the pagans they sought to drown out. It’s yule, not what Jesus put in his home for his birthday (not that he was actually born in the winter anyway, they rewrote that too). Eggs and bunnies are pagan fertility things, not what phasewalker Jesus handed out from the tomb.
While I know it’s clearly a Christian symbol now, you can’t change what makes you nostalgic.
Anyway, I don’t know about everyone else, but it was only this summer I learned that “pagan” just means ANY religion that isn’t Christian. I assume it’s more the various Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo sects in the European Christian range.
