The Christmas Tree SCs

[SongsOfDragons]

Are we sharing pictures of Xmas trees? Can I show you last year's?

[Shacky Whacky]

What's wrong with a Charlie Brown tree?

Same here. I always always always get a live tree and it has to be a blue spruce. I used to insist on always cutting it down myself, as well, but I've caved over the past few years and now will get a pre-cut one.

I don't think I've ever paid over 20 for a tree ever. A few years ago, the lady at the tree farm DH and I went to gave us our tree for free, as we were returning from the year before and her husband died in the meantime. The trees were hit with a blight of sorts, as she didn't have the opportunity to properly spray them at the time they needed it. So it really was a CHarlie Brown tree, with a few dead branches and a bald spot in the back (that faced the wall anyway).

We always get the tree trimmed so that it is only about 3 1/2 feet high. People give us odd looks, (well, they give ME odd looks), but it's because I put the tree on a coffee table, and then it seems like it is a full size tree. Then presents can go all around the table. It always looks very nice.

I don't think it's environmentally bad to do this. I'd rather see a large area of land used to grow trees over and over, than to see it get sold, subdivided, and McMansioned. And the trees, when sunk in a pond, make good cover for the fishies.

[powerboy]

my parents has a fake tree because of the dogs and cats. Now when I get my own place, I am going to have a fake one also.

[Kiwi]

we got a prelit 6ft tree perfect for our little apartment

$50 for the thing

its great!

[Antisocial_Worker]

I don't think it's environmentally bad to do this. I'd rather see a large area of land used to grow trees over and over, than to see it get sold, subdivided, and McMansioned. And the trees, when sunk in a pond, make good cover for the fishies.

I'm with you. Christmas trees are big business around here, because there are Christmas tree farms all over the NC mountains. I always get a real tree. This year I'm planning to get one I can plant, because my back yard needs more greenery anyway.

Perhaps when I go, I'll end up with and SC story to tell. It's been so many years since I went along on the tree-buying trip that I've totally forgotten anything sucky that I might have witnessed as a kid.

[Auto]

Wow - $250 is a lot for a tree...

I'm trying to convince my american boyfriend to spend christmas in Denmark - It's the best season ever... Snow is a possibility...

The trees are $20-30 (NO artificials here). They are perfect (our 2nd class ones we export to germany)...

AND we dance around it on christmas eve holding hands and singing carols... No kidding...

usually, it's the other way around. you export the best stuff, with locals getting the bad stuff.

[Daria]

You also might want to put soft, chewable ornaments on the lower limbs. Kittens will pull things off the branches they can reach.

The other alternative is plastic baubles. Back when we bothered with trees, we used to put the glass baubles up high and the (equally pretty, actually, and far less difficult) plastic ones down low.

Our kitten would pull them off and bat them around the house.

[Bella_Vixen]

Oh, and on a slightly OT note, anyone know how to keep a cat OUT of a Christmas tree? Or at least, get the tree to stand with a cat in it's branches?

Back for my second Christmas, my family put the tree in the playpen so Becks and I wouldn't knock it over, etc. I think this is a great idea.

People would give me the wierdest looks when I would show them the pic of me hanging off the side of the playpen, but they had to admit that it was a good idea.

[Crazyredhead]

I haven't had a tree in a few years. Couldn't afford it. This year the kids are getting decent presents but still no tree. They don't really care, just as long as they get something.

I am really paranoid with a live tree. I hear things when it is really quiet, like snapping and crackling. I have to look into it to make sure that it is not on fire.

When I was a kid, we had a tree every year. Me and my dad used to go to the tree farm where he would cut the tree himself. It would smell so good and would last from Thanksgiving to after New Years. But now I would rather have a artificial one. It didn't matter when I was a kid cause I din't have to worry about it but now I constantly worry over it.

I found a nice artificial one for about $120.00, but I am going to have to wait. Hubby doesn't find it that important, Christmas will still come and go, with or without a tree.

[Mighty Girl]

All excellent reasons for everyone to just have an artificial one.

My family had one real tree when I was a kid, and apparently it was such a PITA, they were banned from the house forever. Why on earth would I want to pay money every year, to water a tree (and if you forget, you could have a fire...), pull needles out of my feet and the cats paws...Forget it!

Leave the trees where they belong, in the ground providing much needed oxygen.

Maybe if we had more oxygen, these idiots would make fewer brainfarts.

[Jester]

[QUOTE=Jester;55156]I still have not worn my Santa hat yet this year....figure I will start Friday, as that will be Officially December. So far, no one at either one of my jobs has done this yet.

I lied. I did not wait for Friday. I actually started wearing my Santa hat YESTERDAY, Wednesday, and as I figured, was once again the first one on staff (in a hotel with much staff) to wear one. Saturday will tell me if I am the first one to wear one at the waterfront bar as well.

(still waiting for the mods to add a Santa-hat-wearing smiley to the list)

[Legal Eagle]

I've got a friend who owns a garden centre. Every year he would sell christmas trees and every year we'd get ours from there. One year he told me he couldn't sell them anymore because he'd lost money for the last 2 years on them. The Reason? every night people were climbing over the fences (we're talking good sized fences with barbed wire on top) and stealing themselves a tree. Bear in mind these are real christmas trees which are a nightmare to carry a few inches off the ground, but they got them up and over the fence. What got me was that the trees only cost £30 and there were some for as little as £10 if they were really skint.

[DesignFox]

I haven't had a tree in a few years. Couldn't afford it. ...

I was worried about not having a tree this year...we lucked out and the BF's parents gave us one...
But, before I found that out... My co-worker gave me a great suggestion. She said to wait until right after christmas, then get a tree at 75% discount at the big stores. I never really looked, but according to her, all the big stores are liquidating them and it is fairly easy to buy a nice pre-lit tree for cheap.

[repsac]

I have found (and others may consider this if they are allergic too) that there are some kinds of live trees which will not affect me.

In most cases, I'm allergic to anything in the pine family. However, I've found that a good douglas fir, doesn't bother me in the least. We had a live tree one year recently.


On a side note, that tree turned out to be one of the strangest things we ever had. It's called Lazarus.

Why?

Well, after christmas ended, I took it out back and set it up. The intention was to later go sink it in a pond. Would you believe the dang thing took root? We dug it up and put it in the yard, and now two years later it's still fine and dandy.

[Gurndigarn]

I like artificial trees, because you can set one up shortly after Thanksgiving and keep it up into January, after my seasonal rush ends. This way, after a day of dodging customers, I can come home, look at the pretty lights, and destress a bit. And if the season was a bit extra stressful, there's no compelling reason to take it down until February.