Top Ten Seven Reasons Why I Hate Artificial Trees
1) They require storage.
2) They are heavy as the dickens to bring down from the attic.
3) They smell like dust, not pine.
4) They come apart when you try to move them.
5) They wreck my hands, having to arrange every ding-dang branch.
6) They test the very limits of my patience, having to arrange every ding-and-also-dang branch. (Totally channeling my inner June right now.)
7) They look, well, artificial. I mean, seriously. Where, in nature, do you see a tree that is perfectly triangular?
Let’s just hope and pray it looks better with ornaments on it. If I ever manage to get the ornaments down from the attic and hang them. And by I, I mean my husband of course. Not that he will do much hanging of the ornaments. It’s the attic part I need him for.
How about you? Real or fake?
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Oh my, you just crack me up with the ding-dangs. Seriously! I think that tree looks amazing!! We have a faker and it’s definitely not as robust as yours. So I can see why you are frustrated. I married into 2 cats and I just don’t think we could have a real one. They would probably try to climb it. Or eat it. Or pee on it. Or all of the above.
Real! I will forever be a tree snob. I grew up on the central coast of California. My great-uncle was a forester in the Sierras, and every year he cut us a tree way up in the mountains. We usually ended up getting a Silvertip Fir between 12-15 feet tall, you know the kind that are $200-$300 at the tree lots. So I was spoiled. Now I get my tree from Home Depot, but it is a real tree, regardless of where it came from.
Definitely fake because as fake as they are they don’t leave behind pine needles that I’ll be finding 10 years from now.
Interesting b/c my living room carpet is covered with needles that are most certainly not pine, but they do resemble it somewhat. LOL.
I will say this, though. I like how I can adjust the branches so my ornaments hang the way I want them to. That’s about the only good thing I can say about it, though.
We do fake. I like to put up my tree early, sometimes before Thanksgiving (but it takes until after to get it decorated) and we have a fireplace and the fire potential puts me in panic overdrive. I think the key to making it look more natural is to cram as much crap/decorations on it as possible. At least that is what I do.
But I do like a real tree too, and I miss the scent.
We have a fake tree, for health reasons. I love ours because it isn’t perfectly triangle, that is the main reason I picked it.
I love your tree! So pretty!!!
Grew up with a fake tree. My hubby found that appalling so now we do real. After too many years of dried out, droopy, mishapen trees, I have convinced him to buy a fake on. I like my trees perfect triangles. Plus I found one that claimed you don’t have to shape it every year. Not sure if I can buy that claim…
I grew up with fake, but I’m not sure I care if it’s fake or real, I just like traditions and the holiday cheer
Yours looks great so far!
We have a fake tree- I love not needing to go and pick a tree out in the cold. I love not putting the lights on every year. I love not taking the lights off in January. I love not vacuuming up needles. I do miss the smell of the tree, but that is the only negative in my mind of a fake tree.
Fake. We mostly had fake ones growing up, because we were poor missionaries who had to use the same tree for years and years (and they were always the really fake ones you can get for cheap at Wally or Kmart).
Now my husband and I have a fake one because of asthma and allergies…we just can’t handle the scent of real trees. Though our little 3ft. one we bought our first year of marriage is looking quite pathetic this fourth time around, so we are talking about shelling out the $$ for a tall quality one next year that hopefully will last for many years to come. (I actually want two trees, the big one for the coordinated ornaments, and a smaller one to replace the current one for our yearly ornaments and the random ornaments we receive as gifts that don’t really fit the color scheme but we love anyway)!!
Um, fake. No watering required, fewer needles on the floor, and can stay up until Valentine’s Day. Not that I would ever do that…
We did a real tree the first year we were married but having to constantly water it and vacuum the falling needles was to me more of a pain then dealing with the fake tree.
Oh and there is a candle shop near us that sell these pine sticks that you hang on your artificial tree and it makes it smell real. I can’t help you with the fact that it still “looks” fake! LOL.
Big hugs to you girlfriend.
Kim
IT looks pretty but I LOVE A REAL TREE and will never buy an artificial one….
I am a fake, fake, fake all the way girl!
Can’t be doing with natural/wonky – I need perfection (just like me – LOL!)
We have 2 fake trees, including a skinny model(just like me – LOL!!!!) which takes us less room while still being tall (NOT AT ALL like me!!!)
So, on this one topic, I am afraid I beg to differ….but I hope you will still be my bloggy friend?
Fake all the way, baby. I’m so over dead pine needles falling all over the floor, sap, and having to remember to water a dead tree. Yours looks fab.
Fake and prelit! I am not a fan of putting lights on but I grew up with real trees…my dad would spend days putting the lights on the 10-12′ tree!
Also, I am confused…in the Christmas pictures with your little ones in it you had a real tree? Do you have 2? Just curious is all!
Brenda, yes! We always get a real tree for the family. A few years ago I bought this fake one to have an extra one that I could put fancy ornaments on and make my own.
We don’t usually set it up but this year I’m hosting Christmas so I wanted it. So yep, we have 2!
Artificial. B/c they’re a HUGE money saver (and that’s something that doesn’t grow on trees!), and, um, trees don’t usually grow from living room carpets
You ask, “Where, in nature, do you see a tree that is perfectly triangular?” — a Christmas tree lot! haha!
I grew up with fake trees but after my first Christmas with my husband, I was a complete convert to the real tree side. Honestly, I don’t think they are that much work- I really haven’t had any problems with lots of needles in the carpet. And they usually hold up really well if we travel over christmas and can’t water it for a week.
I really don’t think I can go back to fake trees- it’s just not the same.
I grew up with a fake and a real tree. My parents would by a ball and burlap and plant it. Well they ran out of room in their yard. I got married carried on the tradition and ran out of room in my yard 7 years and 7 trees later. LOVE looking at the large Christmas trees in the backyard now and remember them as tiny trees in the house. The kids have two tiny fake trees in their rooms and we have a fake one now. Miss the ball and burlap real trees to plant
we need more land!
I am so about the fake and pre-lit trees! No needles or watering or wrestling with lights or allergies! It looks great and I can burn a candle for the pine smell if needed!
I just read in my hard-hitting Oprah magazine that a fake tree must be used for 20 years to leave a carbon footprint as small as a real tree. Which makes me feel bad, because I am allergic to ding-dang real trees and break out in a charming rash that is at least red, so that’s Christmassy.
I had no idea you linked to me today! You are going to be so sorry, as my post is fairly dreadful and includes the phrase “Latvian Girls Gone Wild.”
We buy a real tree this year. And I have to say…ours is also a pretty perfect triangle…
http://notabowinsight.blogspot.com/2009/12/traditions.html
I think growing up in the 70s and my Dad loving his Aluminum Tree with red ball affected me. Yes, we do FAKE – but its tall and green.
I am just a predictable person – I LOVE knowing exactly what its going to look like every year.
Fake. I do not enjoy the smell of pine. I may succumb to the romantic notion of bundling everyone up to go into the woods and cut down a tree some year… but for now fake.
So funny!!! I’m a fake tree kinda gal, but I can agree with every point you made; however, I just dislike the list the two reasons for a real tree even more … so fake it continues to be for me:)
It is pretty though:)
Merry Christmas to you & your family!
Growing up, it was always fake because of the allergies of my brother and myself.
After getting married, we got a real tree one year and I thought I was going to die. We’ve gone fake ever since – although this is the first year in 10 that we have even put up a tree.
We’ve got a real tree…
This sounds verrryyyy familiar. A little too familiar.
My husband actually told me that he is contemplating giving our tree away and “going real” after this year. The cost is a bit prohibitive though…
We’ll see.
You’re tree looks beautiful so far! I also have a square tree skirt! My aunt made it for me and I love it! Yours is the only other I’ve seen. Love it!
Anyway, we’ve had a fake tree for the last five years, but decided to go real this year and take the girls to the mountains to pick and cut the tree. Except that two weeks after we brought it home and decorated it, we discovered that it was infested with aphids and had to drag the artificial one out anyway. We’ll probably give the real trees another shot next year, but I can’t really complain about my artificial because it was there when we needed it. It’s very presence saved the Christmas spirit in our house. (I’m pretty sure hubby would not have bought another real one this year.)
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
I prefer real, mainly because it smells so good; but we do have an artificial one. We have a real one this year and I swear it’s perfectly triangular! Merry Christmas!
I’ve had my artificial tree for 16 years now, so I’m getting close to coming out even environmentally (if June is indeed correct). But I do hate arranging the stupid branches. So much so that I’m treeless this year. I don’t have kids, I can do that.
I totally hate the way artificial trees make my hands feel. And I usually have scratches on my arms from trying to arrange all the ding-dang branches. (Love that saying! I’m stealing it!) As soon as I finish arranging the ding-dang branches, I rush for the sink to wash up and slather my hands and arms with lotion.
I thought I was stuck forever with the ding-dang artificial tree, until 2 weeks ago. Hubs took me off guard when he said that NEXT year, he wants a real tree! Yes, I believe that made angels sing! Hallelujah!
I broke tradition and bought an artificial just a couple years ago. I think it was the stress of putting on those ding-dang lights and getting pine pitch all over me that made me a convert.
I must say rearranging the branches to fit in certain ornaments sure is handy, oh and of course it is pre-lit…the major selling point!
Mine is way more random looking, and not too much of a full triangle, and it has tiny pinecones on it.
Growing up I remember going out to the woods and spending the day finding a tree and cutting dead trees for firewood. As such I always wanted a live tree. That was right up until our 3rd year in a row we did not have the money for a tree~ I mean we were spending 27$ a month on groceries a tree was completely out of the question to spend $$ on. Since then we have had a fake tree as having a tree for the celebration is important to me. I do buy a wreath (given we have had the money to do so) which is real pine so we have the scent in the house. Oh and pre-lit is especially helpful.