artifical Xmas trees- 'fess up

[leafylady]

: I swore I'd never do it, but this year I got one of those artificial Christmas trees. Now that I've got a toddler, - the thought of pine needles everywhere, cat in the tree, cat drinking scummy water from the tree stand, forgetting to water the tree, and finding the dried up brown tree after holiday travels- all of these thoughts drove me to finally getting the bad plastic tree. Maybe in another 10 years I'll go back to the real thing. But then I'll have to find some way to dispose of this non biodegradable lovely tree.
Please don't flame me!!! Just 'fess up if you've got one too.

[Irishmommy]

I have an artificial one and I love it!! No mess, no fire hazard, it's always symmetrical (for the anal side of me LOL). We did the real one until we had kids, but I feel a lot safer with the artificial one having little ones around.

[ekblad9]

We have an artificial tree also. My husband says that buying the real ones are unenvironmental. I want a real one but won't push for it until the kids and the dog are older.

[SoHappy]

Be Careful!!

I was looking at very nice artificial trees when I saw this notice:

WARNING: This product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Wash your hands after handling.

So be sure to read the box on the tree you're considering! I also read the box our lights came in. It said not to use them on artificial trees due to danger of electrocution. Who woulda thought just having a safe Christmas would require so much reading?

[Elphaba]

we have a fake one, too. same concerns as most other people i imagine: cat who attacks plants, fear of tree going up in flames, mess from needles, etc.

[leafylady]

I think the lead must be the wire structure of the branches. Any other metal would get brittle and break from the bending open and then bending back shut. It makes sense not to eat while putting up the tree and to wash your hands after putting it up.

My tree didn't have a warning, but I kinda figured the wire was lead because I'm a metalworker.

[briar]

Yes we too have a fake one. I know trees are grown just for the purpose of christmas but I still can't bare to cut it down just for a few weeks of enjoyment. Hopefully it'll last many-a-years-to- come.

[MCR]

I'm confessing we are a fake tree family and we love it. We get to put it up right after thanksgiving and it's still green by christmas! I hated the thought of a tree being cut down just for me to have a christmas tree each year. Ours is now 3yrs old and looks great, It'll probably last a good ten years or more, my moms lasted 20yrs or more from when I was a kid.

[ColoradoMama]

We bought a fake tree in 1999. I do like the real ones, but I get so tired of fighting the cats. Plus, I get really, really sick of stepping on needles. *Ouch* I remember having the same fake tree every year growing up. I really liked that tree. I loved getting out the tree every year. Our final straw to get a fake one though was that hubby would get an allergy attack when we put it up and when we put it down.

[yogamama]

We have a fake tree! Well, we joke that it's our "permanant tree" (not fake - haha). We always bought real trees and I hated it - expensive, needles everywhere, hauling the damn thing into our 3rd floor condo, watering it, water spills, needles everywhere... Oh, did I mention how EXPENSIVE it was??? I'm so cheap, I like the idea of buying it once and being done.

I know my husband really prefers a real tree, but we bought our fake tree last year and I think we will be using for MANY years.

[pjlioness]

Disposal of fake tree....

Leafylady, why not save it for next year? Most of the better ones fold up/can be taken apart, and you might be able to put it in the same box. Even the cheap ones oughta last at least another year.

Pam

BTW, thanks to SoHappy for mentioning lead. I never thought of that - my family had the same bendable tree every year when I was growing up, and my hubby and I used it til '99, when just too many branches had fallen off and it was looking sparse. I thought I couldn't bear to throw it away for sentimental reasons, but now I'm reconsidering.

[gardenmommy]

We have a real tree and I love it. I don't really have a problem with needles, love the scent, and don't have a problem with it environmentally. We put it up shortly after Thanksgiving and take it down Jan. 6 (epiphany). As long as we keep it watered, we don't have a problem with it drying out. When we're done with it, we cut it up, and burn it in our fireplace. The ashes then go out into the compost. I don't like the look of fake trees. That's probably because I grew up with real ones, although dh grew up with fake ones; I converted him to the real thing after we were married, and now he loves them. Plus, it's a fun family thing to go pick it out and cut it down together.

[leafylady]

Yogamama,
I didn't mean that I was going to throw away the artificial tree this year. I was just referring to that vague day in the far future when we might have to dispose of it. I hope to keep it for a long long time. It won't be as easy to dispose of as a real tree that can be burned, or tossed on the side of a country road, like most people do around here (not me).

[BAU3]

Just my opinion on real trees: i love the real ones and I do my best to find the small mom&pop tree farm because I'd rathere support them than anyone else(this coming from a gal who grew up on a small tree farm ) happy holidays.

[pjlioness]

Originally posted by leafylady
I didn't mean that I was going to throw away the artificial tree this year.

I'd forgotten where I was for a bit there. I'm used to walking around the city and seeing everyone's trees (real and fake) out on the sidewalk after X-mas, but of course someone here wouldn't be likely to throw out a fake tree until it was in bad shape.

Pam

[rsps]

We have a living tree thats been with us for 4 years now.

It doesn't really look like a christmas tree anymore (I learned last year at a tour of a tree farm that they trim them twice a year to get the shape!) But we haul it in anyway. Last year their were lovely weeds growing in the pot and they came right in with it! Once decorated it was beautiful.

This year I bought a mini fake tree (12") for the boys room, and a 2 ft tall "half" tree that mounts on the wall. Because you can't have the living ones in the house for very long. Those two are both decorated already, but ds keeps asking when we're bringing in the "big tree"

[pie]

i wanted real but dh was concerned about pesticides, ticks, fire, me whining about the mess and exploiting trees. Las year we had a living one but I planted it. So we got a really neat fake one at a craft store here called Tall Mouse. It's called an Alpine tree and it's 7 feet tall but really skinny. perfect for our teeny house. I like it but don't tell dh. Oh, best of all it just breaks in two, not millions of pieces.

[farmmom]

It's fake

My mom passed down her fake tree to me when I got married 10 years ago. She and I bought it in '83 I think.

I really like to put it up and see the remembrances of years before still stick on it. Tinsel tangled in the branches, etc...

But my favorite memory is long gone. We had a cockatiel in the early years of this tree's "life". My sister and I would let it out of the cage all the time and it liked to roost in the tree. Of course it pooped all over in the tree and I bet it took 5 years or more for all that poop to finally be completely gone!!! Mom didn't used to think this story was so funny but she does now

[TripkeHughes]

I love "real" trees but feel forever guilty about killing a tree for a month in my house. We do not garden yet (hope to start next year) but we could burn it. Anyway... in the future when we get to putting the tree up again, we will probably do the artifical tree thing. Funny, before reading this thread, I always thought they were better for the environment.

[mamaoso]

I have a real tree. It's a potted Norfolk pine that has moved half way across the country with us, and we've had it for about 4 or 5 years now. I live near many tree farms. We (Oregonians) probably supply trees to a good part of the U.S. It seems kind of silly to me to take up so much space and time growing a tree that someone will have in their house for a month and then get rid of it.