Christmas Tree. - Real or Fake? (1 Viewer)

[Bull Dozier]

Not something you hear every day.  

"I'll give you 225k but you have to leave the Christmas tree."

It was a unique situation.  We bought the house from friends.  It was their parents house.  Dad had died years ago, and then the mother passed.  They knew we were interested in the neighborhood, so we negotiated the purchase before they even had the house cleaned out, so they were asking what stuff they should leave for us, and the tree fit perfectly in the porch, so it was one of the things they left for us.

 

[mr roboto]

Every year when I'm cleaning up pine needles I say we're buying a fake one "next year", but never have.

My parents took us to a tree farm every year, and we've been taking our kids to the same one ever since they were old enough.  Sadly, this farm is closing after this year so I will need to do something else next year.  Maybe this is what finally pushes me over the line to a fake one.

You need to buy this free farm and run it. 

 

[mr roboto]

I've been driving around the last couple of weeks and I'll get to a house and the lights are impeccable.  Perfectly straight and the bulbs are exactly equidistant from each other.  I'm thinking - no way in hell some Clark Griswold mother####er is getting his lights to look that perfect.  Turns out it's people using some company to come in like out GB Otis to put the lights up for them.

You willing to share how much that ran you? 

5k prolly. 

 

[Pickle Rody]

Voted real, as that's what I prefer. I love the smell and don't mind the hassle. Wife insists on fake, so fake it is. Not pre-lit. Hanging lights is no big deal to me. 

Growing up my folks had a fake tree for use when we didn't get a real tree. My dad preferred real, mom wanted fake (ease of cleanup, etc.) Sometimes dad won the yearly debate and we got a real one. One year we got a live tree. We kept it alive long enough after the season to plant it in the back yard. It's still growing and is pretty sizable after 30 years. 

Using a real tree doesn't necessitate killing it and trashing it. Get a balled live tree and plant it on your property for years of life and memories.

 

[IrishTwinkie]

Usually real. Went fake this year. Family schedule is such that we really need to have the tree up the Friday/Saturday after Thanksgiving or its not going up at all. The past few years the poor thing was seriously droopy/ugly by the time Christmas was here. We eventually went BalsamHill as we felt all the box store trees were ugly too. It looks decent. In this I think you get what you pay for. 

 

[James Daulton]

So many fake tree Christmas haters, you guys are ####### killing me.  I literally hope Krampus visits all you mother####ers and snatches your Scrooge asses back to the dark underworld where you all belong. 

 

[Zegras11]

So many fake tree Christmas haters, you guys are ####### killing me.  I literally hope Krampus visits all you mother####ers and snatches your Scrooge asses back to the dark underworld where you all belong. 

Calls people haters, then hates ten fold. probably hasn't sat on Santa's lap yet this year   

 

[James Daulton]

Calls people haters, then hates ten fold. probably hasn't sat on Santa's lap yet this year   

No one is fuller of the ####### Christmas spirit than me mother####er!

 

[shuke]

We have a fake tree.  I have no idea how old it is, it came with the house when we bought it (which was about six years ago).  It's pretty old, and every time we set it up, it drops needles all over the place, so I get the experience of the real tree without dealing with the cold.

I had issues with real trees the first three Christmas' with my own family.  Twice it fell over while we were gone.  Once one of the bulbs burned a hole in the carpet.  The last time it fell over after sitting in the tree stand for all of five minutes.  I don't deny for a second that these were probably all user error issues, but enough was enough and I walked that tree down to the street and threw it out.  At the time we lived in a lower income area, and a few minutes later these three kids walked by and asked if we were throwing it out.  We said yes, and they asked if they could take it.  When I told them to help themselves, their face lit up like we just gave them a Christmas miracle.

I've had a few trees tip over.  A few years back I cut a 4 foot diameter circle from plywood and bolted my tree stand to it.  Tip-proof.

 

[shuke]

Every year when I'm cleaning up pine needles I say we're buying a fake one "next year", but never have.

My parents took us to a tree farm every year, and we've been taking our kids to the same one ever since they were old enough.  Sadly, this farm is closing after this year so I will need to do something else next year.  Maybe this is what finally pushes me over the line to a fake one.

You need to buy this free farm and run it. 

They're not selling the farm, just going out of the tree business.

 

[Otis]

I've been driving around the last couple of weeks and I'll get to a house and the lights are impeccable.  Perfectly straight and the bulbs are exactly equidistant from each other.  I'm thinking - no way in hell some Clark Griswold mother####er is getting his lights to look that perfect.  Turns out it's people using some company to come in like out GB Otis to put the lights up for them.

You willing to share how much that ran you? 

LESS THAN 5k.

I think it was around 3k, but only because this is the first year we've done it, they came in to custom cut lengths of lights, and it includes buying all the lights, wreaths, etc.  Also includes taking it all down and packing it up in the garage after the holidays.  From then on it will be about $1k per season -- they come in, pull the stuff out of the garage, install it all, provide all timers etc., and then take it down at end of the holidays.  I don't have to lift a finger.  A little more expensive than I might like, but worth it given my work and travel schedule and the fact that we've got a newborn in the house.  Pretty chaotic time at Camp O.

 

[shadyridr]

Yeah I also put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving.

 

[shadyridr]

LESS THAN 5k.

I think it was around 3k, but only because this is the first year we've done it, they came in to custom cut lengths of lights, and it includes buying all the lights, wreaths, etc.  Also includes taking it all down and packing it up in the garage after the holidays.  From then on it will be about $1k per season -- they come in, pull the stuff out of the garage, install it all, provide all timers etc., and then take it down at end of the holidays.  I don't have to lift a finger.  A little more expensive than I might like, but worth it given my work and travel schedule and the fact that we've got a newborn in the house.  Pretty chaotic time at Camp O.

Agreed, definitely worth it for you

 

[belljr]

I even bought the redneck ####ty fake light projectors this year!!!!!!!!

 

[Bull Dozier]

I've had a few trees tip over.  A few years back I cut a 4 foot diameter circle from plywood and bolted my tree stand to it.  Tip-proof.

That probably would have helped my first two tip overs.  For the third I had bought a new stand (huge circle base).  The problem that time was the screws holding the tree itself.  After twisting them in to get the tree straight, apparently they weren't all holding the tree with the same tension, so the tree slipped from the holdings and fell, while the stand didn't tip itself.  That was enough for me.