what type of tree do you put up?

I grew up with a big old, tree cut out in a field, that my dad had to cut down to get into the house. We had a new "special ornament" each year and when we left for our own homes our ornmaments followed.

I kept up the tradition with my own children but since we traveled to my mom's every Christmas I stopped doing a tree (except the year I carried one home on the subway and the cats licked the frosting of the gingerbread house....need I say more)

A couple of years ago on our new "blended family" Christmas (5 kids and a Jewish husband) we decided to get a tacky white tree and use red ornaments. The kids laughed then admitted it looked kind of nice. Since then we put up the tacky white tree and change the color theme each year. Gone are the "special" ornaments and Hello Walmart color of the season. The only other ornament allowed is my DH rainbow trout ornament purchased on our honeymoon. It is tacky enough to make our tree.

We have a lot of fun with our tacky tree and 5 kids. Sometimes new traditions work out okay.

Strickly a balsom tree family. The last decorations put on the tree are the 'icicles'. Daughters can't use them because of the cats. Youngest doesn't have a tree because of lack of space.

Kids are in their 20's and dont decorate.
SIL loves a tree but has to beg his daughter to help him cut it down.
DD and I saty out of it because the tree cutting is a "man-thing"
I just know we will have a tree sometime before Crismis.
I like to decorate where I can and love the smell of the tree when the lights are turned on.
SIL doesnt know a fir from a pine so we just take what he brings.
It's usually too big and the whole livingroom has to be rearranged. Its part of the tradition around here to see and measure how many inches he has to cut off to get it into the stand and upright.
OHH YES and the goodnatured mockery goes with the whole day.

Planted a bunch of Fraser Fir seedlings 8 years ago and last year cut down the first one--a nine-foot monster. This year's will be somewhat smaller to cut down on the decorating chore.

I put up a small 4 foot artificial. No lights anymore, just decorations.

No tree. The cats like to decorate with dust bunnies, though.

usually a balsam or Frasier fir, what ever the local lions club is selling - and we have to do the whole living room furniture dance as well - and icicles go on last (is it possible to do them earlier).

Same - balsam or frasier.

Grew up with Balsam trees. Now do artificial(DH is used to those). What to do a real one again, but not this year. Kids hate the idea of a real one.

I could never do a fake one.

i have done a fake one - it looked real - although you can not replace the real tree smell - a LOT less mess though. we still find needles for months afterward.

Usually fir here too, but every few years a scotch pine. I like trees that aren't real full so there is a lot of space between the branches.
Then 3 small artificial ones around the house.

i like a full tree that has thicker branches to hold some of the heavy ornaments - hard to find

I liked Charlie Brown's.

We put up a real tree, always.....almost 50 and have never had a fake tree.

We had one for about 12 years when I was a kid and hated it! Vowed I would never get one.

One year my mom didn't think the tree was full enough so my grandfather drilled holes in the trunk to add more branches. Then another year my dad had to wire the tree to the baseboard to keep it up.

I love a real tree and hate the fake ones. My husband thinks real trees are a pain and thinks fake is just fine. The compromise was our tacky tree. We both thought it was silly so everyone is happy

I'm almost 60 and have never had a fake tree, and never will

We do buy a $25 supermarket tree and decorate it with bird seed, put it out on the porch on X-mas, (we enjoy watching the birds outside with something 'special' on x-mas day.)
I never cared for one inside the house as an adult, artificial or otherwise...

No artificial tree.....even in Florida! In NH we cut down our own from our woods, but that isn't an option here. I have lots of special ornaments that have wonderful memories of the giver....some very old. Decorating the tree is a trip down memory lane.

They have been selling the trees now for a few days already! How ridiculous. Who buys this early? It would be all dried out before Christmas. That also means that one you buy two weeks form now may have been sitting all this time!

Times are hard, anything for a buck.

Scotch pine. We buy from a local church and the proceeds go to charity. No tree this year though as we are travelling.

They do it every year this early!

WAY early. It's so dry here it would be bald by Christmas for sure.

We try to get ours from the local parents asssoc. which sell for the school education fund.

That's a great idea irisMA.

I don't usually put up a tree, but every year one of my neighbors gives me a really nice tree ornament bulb from Pier One. They come in velvet boxes and are painted nicely. Her family goes all out for xmas and their tree is usually a huge display with hundreds of bulbs. I didnt have the heart to tell her they were collecting dust in the closet.

So one Christmas she was coming over and i wanted to show her I was actually using them. I got a small tabletop tree from a thrift store and put all the bulbs on it. The bulbs were almost bigger than the tree. It looked really sad. When she saw it, she didn't say anything, just paused a long time, lol.

LOL, Joyce! That is funny!

Thanks.

Depends on what hubby is in the mood for, we've done artificial and not picky on what type of real one, I just like ones that can hold up the heavier ornaments.

Hee hee - call me sick, but if I read Jen's post without knowing the original question, I'd be thinking breasts!

hi sick :)

I'm not touching that one with a ten foot artificial...

We went to the artificial tree since the past 10 years or so, we were away over Christmas day. I didn't want to leave a real tree up when A. We weren't there to enjoy it and B. leave a potential fire hazard unwatched.
I am going with a candy cane theme this year since I found all these cute crystal candy canes at my Christmas Tree Shoppe two weeks ago.
Martha

LOL!!

Always had a real one until a few years ago. I found a nice artificial one and get asked a lot of time if it's real! Great for the heavy ornaments I didn't get to use for a long time...

Hee hee, you're funny, sick.


We went tree hunting today, just to get an idea what we want...I think we're going with a balled one this year.
I like a white pine but won't be able to hold all my ornaments, but I think would look wonderful once planted out.

I had a white pine one year - pretty, but the branches weren't very strong. We talked about doing balled trees for a few years and planting a row of them but never did.

we usually buy one that will JUST fit in our living room... once in a while it's too big.. I let Randy pick it.. he does better than I do.. but most years we have two cut trees in the house

We do 3 trees. A mini one in my daughters room, the "man" tree in my son's room(now that we have a dog) it would normally be in the family room, this one has all the harley, fishing, fireman and Nascar ornaments and the main one in the living room.