Christmas tree: Real or artificial? - Page 2

[micah_mae_]

I could go either way. We have a fake tree we bought a few years ago on sale at Target. It's beautiful and I expect we'll use it for decades. It's nice not having to worry about the cost of a new tree each year. My parents have a fake tree but they also get a small (3-4 ft) live tree for my kids to decorate/undecorate/decorate/undecorate as much as they want. 

[Caneel]

Real tree but I can certainly understand the appeal (ease of assembly, no mess) of an artificial tree.

For years, DH felt bad about cutting down a tree so we would get live (balled) trees and plant them after Christmas.  This became a giant PITA and about half the trees ended up dying.

Christmas tree farms are rather successful family businesses in my area (seemingly more financially successful than traditional farming) and most have two and three generations working together.  A close friend of mine married into one and we are acquainted with several other families.  After learning about the operations and seeing it up close, DH is now totally fine with getting a cut tree.

This year DS (7yo) did ask us about "killing" a tree when it was cut down.  We had the opportunity to talk to the owner and have a good educational lesson with DS about agriculture and family farms.

[Mirta]

DH and I are die hard real tree fans, but over the past several years my reaction to decorating our real Christmas tree got worse and worse. (the outfits I worse to put on the lights while trying to avoid getting pricked by the needles became almost comical) last year after we bought our trees my allergies in general went from bad to worse... we weren't sure if it was the tree or something else, but in a moment of misery and desperation I asked friends and on freecycle if anyone had an artificial tree we could borrow so we could get rid of the real tree and see if that helped, but I needed a tree of some sort or my then 4 year old would have been VERY upset! a kind family via freecycle gave us an artificial tree that someone had given them used years ago.. It's up again this year, in part because I didn't want to risk my allergies possibly going crazy again and for a variety of other reasons... It's not the same as a real tree..  and I never thought I would have one in my house.. but now I do.. but at least it's been well used before us, so even if we do get rid of it in the next few years (even next year) I don't have to feel too bad about the environment, because it has been used by at least three families now, each for multiple years!!

Kym

[colsxjack]

We do a real tree.

We have gotten ours from IKEA over the past two years.

IKEA buys from tree farms that use intergrated pest management (so minimal spraying).

All of the trees are $20, no matter what size.

They are nice.

They also give a $20 gift certificate, so as long as you were planning on buying something from IKEA, the tree is free!