Ask Lemmy

Real every time. I feel bad for the poor tree but nothing beats the smell of a fresh Christmas tree in December.

Real. Every year, my partner and I and other partners or friends are welcome to join us, go out into the forests and legally cut down a tree.

It's a pain in the ass, it's adventure, it's a party, it's fun. It's also way cheaper than just buying one. I think we paid like $13 for the state park purpose licence this past weekend.

I have a tradition I made up for this, too. Every year, I cut a puck off the bottom of the tree before I put it in the stand. I drill a hole through it, label it with the year with a marker, and hang it from the tree. I think this will be our 7th year? It hasn't been decorated yet because our living room is super small and a disaster and the tree is currently in the kitchen.

I find that the challenge gives purpose to time, and gives us excuse to socialize more in these dark months.

I use a real tree because I have cats that would eat the plastic one, and I feel that plastic trees are worse for the environment.

Aluminum pole. No tinsel. It's distracting.

As an asthmatic, fake trees are the only way to go. The mold real trees have and produce as they die often cause croup cough among asthmatic. You only need croup for one Christmas before you figure out it's just not worth it.

Artificial mainly because we spent a fortune on a good one like 10 years ago but I don’t have to shell out $150 for a new one each year. Plus it’s pre-lit.

Y'all put up trees every year?

I can't put a full sized tree up no matter what because of a bad kitty.

I used to put a fake one up so I didn't have dropped needles and when it gets dry it is a huge fire hazard.

Real. But I live in a pretty foresty area and just go to the neighbourhood farmer where I also get my eggs from and my poultry and it's not pricey and goes into the fireplace once it's dry enough.

Neither, I have a 5 foot tall Gumby instead. It was a carnival prize and is wrapped in lights and decorated with smaller Gumbys, Pokeys, Blockheads, Prickle and Goo. No Nopey though.

Nope!

I just hire someone to stand in the corner after I cover them in lights.

No because that's not feasible for us

Surprised no one mentioned cost. When I moved to a city it got real expensive to buy a new tree each year. When I lived in a place where pine trees grew it was a lot cheaper.

Bought a tree about 7 years ago that fits in my place and spent $45 once.

It’s way nicer to have a real tree but I saved hundreds at this point.

Man are artificial trees a TON of work to keep nice.

Artificial, real trees are not easily available where I live. Plus we get the same tree every year!

Plastic.

Doesn't feel like Christmas without the smell of a real tree. I go out back and cut a small one.

I use an artificial, don't see the point of cutting down a whole tree for it to slowly die in your house over a month to then throw it out after.

If there were more services where you could rent the tree and then it gets put back in the ground after the season I would be all for it.

Artificial trees you buy once and you don't need to replace it for years if not decades. Though would prefer if they started making them with biodegradable plastic

I am surprised at how many artificial tree users there are. Way more than I expected.

I have mostly lived where I could just go get a real one from the woods if I wanted to, so I guess that gives me a bias. If I couldn't have a real tree, I dont think I would want one at all.

I am not much into christmas, but the whole bringing a tree home with a connection to nature makes it worthwhile. Love the smell of a fresh tree too.

Never had issues with needles or bugs so I find that strange as well. I mean sure, the tree drops some needles at the end, but that is what the skirt is for. The few outside of that is just a single day of vacuuming that you would be doing anyways.

When I can be bothered (not often) I get a real one. The smell is amazing, it looks great and the imperfections and variations make it look much nicer. Oh, and the best bit? When I take it down I get to take it to the goat farm down the road - they go absolutely fucking nuts for fir trees.

I hunt my own free range tree. It's satisfying having a hand in is death. Feels good to take that chainsaw to it's body, cut it down in the prime of life, strap it to my truck, let the wind whip through its slowly dying limbs. Drag it inside my house and hack parts off until I'm satisfied it fits. Stand it in my dining room and drop fresh water into a bucket with screws attached that is designed to prolong it's eventual demise. Then after a couple days of letting it slowly warm, we gather as a family and decorate it's festering body with glittering lights, shiny baubbles, and memories of years past. Before we then place gifts below it's slowly dying limbs to exchange with each other on the day we celebrate the world breaking and entry champion for the past 1745 years. After that I wait a few days, rip the glitter off, and toss the remains outside, either in the trash to be buried and gone, or to the graveyard of the trees, where it can finish rotting with others of it's kind.

It's a lot of work, but oh so satisfying.

We have a cat tree we use. So artificial.

Real.

Pricey? I just go out in the woods and take one for free.

When I can, I get a real tree. After Christmas, I trim all the leaves and branches off the trunk and put those in the municipal compost bin. I then put the trunk in storage and let it dry out for a year or two. Once dry, I'll carve them into things like walking sticks, wizard staffs, etc.

Option 3: we don't buy any trees.

Still deciding.

• I have fond childhood memories of traipsing through a tree farm until we found the right one, then taking turns using the old two handled buck saw we carried out, then trying to work as a team to carrry a massive tree back
• now I live in an urban area with no nearby tree farm. I’m sticking spending well over $100 and I don’t have a car with roof rack to carry it.

Sometimes I use an artificial tree and sometimes I goto Home Depot as the most reasonably priced place to get a real one. Last year the selection at Home Depot was bad plus they were all small so I spent twice as much at a higher end place

Artificial. While it was a ton of plastic I can't get over cutting down a tree every year. Seems wasteful to me. My artificial is exactly the same as it was 10 years ago and I have no need to replace it.

@butterycroissant one of my imfant memories is going to woods somewhere so my mum could steal the christmas tree, its a good memorie :)

nowadays its artificial for sure, i am to pussy to steal things