Throwback Thursday: Real or fake Christmas tree? #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

Alrighteo, let's settle this once and for all. I grew up in the 70's and 80's in Iceland and there were not too many artificial trees around (or they were expensive) so we always had a real "life" tree, which of course was dead since it had been chopped down.

Sooooooooooo, did you grow up in a household that had a real "life" Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree?

Let’s make it a great Thursday!
KGM

[Neil Fletcher]

I bought a fake tree for 10 GBP in the January sales in 2005... it's still going strong

[John Funk]

Merry Christmas, Kristján!

My father taught horticulture at the local university, and my parents owned a florist - at which we sold artificial AND real trees. So we always had a real tree growing up. I can still smell that familiar aroma! And miss it. We have had an artificial tree the last several years - not many real Christmas trees growing in the desert! But I look forward to the return to a real tree one year. Maybe soon?????

[Stephen_Lugton]

My mum refused to have a real tree as she didn't want to have to clear up any needles that came off it, she now has a pre-decorated tree in a box that comes out every year.

[Dan Breyen]

As a kid, we always had a real tree.  It was even flocked a couple of times.  After us kids were grown up, my parents switched to the artificial tree.  It was much easier to setup and didn't shed the needles.  

Right now, the plastic & metal tree is in our house.  We didn't have to get all bundled up, and with the pre-lit versions, didn't have to test the light strings, didn't have to decide on colors or white bulbs as they can change with the flick of a switch.

And it when it's all done, goes back in the bag for another year.

[Lewis Tanguhwar]

For me so never had any tree at home , not the fake one, not the real one. We still celebrated Christmas though.

[Amanda Barber]

We had a real tree some years, but mostly a fake one. I love not cleaning up needles and needing to water it! Our latest tree is even prelit and can have colored or white lights. ;)

[Susan Waldrip]

We had real evergreen trees growing up and even planted those with the root ball after the holiday -- that was fun! As we grew older, my mom bought a really nice artificial tree and it lasted for years. Now we have an artificial tree that used to look really nice but it's on its last legs, so we just put a ton of lights on it with some decorations and enjoy it.

[Laurie Sciutti]

Always had a real tree growing up and I have real ones now but I definitely understand the appeal for fake ones!  For me, though, the act of going to get a Christmas tree just really puts me in the holiday spirit.  🎄

[Barbara Szczesniak]

When I was 4, we moved 300 miles away from all the family. When my grandparents came to visit at the beginning of December for my dad's birthday, they gave us an artificial tree. This was much less work than a real tree, and we didn't need to worry about it getting dried out while we were away for the week of Christmas visiting the family. 🎄

[Ted Nieblas]

We always had a real tree growing up and carried this through to my own family. That is until the prices jumped up dramatically going back a decade or so. Now I break out the same fake tree every year (current one is going on 7 or 8 years). It looks great and no needles to clean up later.

Last straw... our local trash pickup started charging for picking up Christmas trees.

[Tuncay Senturk]

I grew up without either a live or artificial tree. For the past 6-7 years, we've used an artificial one. This year, we decided to try a live tree, and it's been the most enjoyable experience so far. Despite the extra effort of cleaning needles and watering, it's definitely worth it!

[Natalie Beiler]

Real tree that was in the process of dropping all the needles before being take down after Christmas. 

Loved the smell of pine. Had to add water EVERY day! 

A few presents unfortunately had to be wrapped a second time after getting wet. Wrapping paper back in the day was thin and did not tolerate water.

Kinda crazy but also many fond tree memories.

[Ram Kumar Aravindakshan _Adaptavist_]

Nowadays, I see more fake trees that tend to be reused whenever Christmas comes along.

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

When I was a kid, we had a little pine tree in the yard that was our usual "Christmas tree," but we also had one chopped tree inside. 
I've always had significant issues with trees and flowers being chopped for some occasions, and I am happy people around me know it well and never gift me with flowers or plants outside their pot :). As we are not quite 'festive' at home, we have a very minor Christmas decoration, but I am tempted to buy a big fake tree one day.

[Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_]

We had a 'mixture' - sometimes a real one and sometimes a fake one. A couple of years ago I bought a 'fake one' but it looks almost like the real one and I tend to use it as long as it doesn't fall apart because I really like it. 🌟

Now I just need to open all of those Christmas boxes and start decorating 🎄 

[Kai Krause]

I have since many years a fake tree. 

[vikram]

we always had a natural grown tree in my child hood. it was small, but now it has grown taller than me. 

[Jack Brickey]

My wife loves decorating at Christmas time. This year both of our boys will be here so she went all out and counting all of the small trees we have 7 I think? 😮‍💨 At this stage they are all artificial but certainly grew up with real trees. Living in North Carolina, one of the largest tree farm production states, we would always make a trip to the mountains shortly after Thanksgiving to pick out our tree. It certainly brings back fond memories with my family.

[Vronik]

Hi everyone,

In my house we have always used artificial trees since I was little, we continue with the tradition and will most likely continue like this, cutting down a tree for a few days seems a bit cruel to me

Regards

[Johanna Pichotka_APTIS_]

My whole childhood we always had a real tree. I loved the smell and decorating it every winter. 

Most years it was a really big one, almost up to the ceiling. Then we got cats and a lot of our ornaments broke which is why we moved on to a smaller tree that we put up on a wooden bar stool. It looked cooler than it sounds but one of our cats in particular was still all over it and breaking things. She loved climbing the tree.

Which is the reason why we moved on to no tree. Instead we now have fairy lights with fake tree branches hanging in the living room which also looks pretty cool. 

The only picture I got. Don't let the cuteness fool you :D

[Cameron Smith]

Brisbane here - not much availability of real trees. Also, they shed quickly in the middle of summer.

[Rishabh Jhawar]

Though my family does not celebrate Christmas, there were a few years during my childhood when we got a fake tree and decorated it with my cousins. Someone would bake a cake and prepare some snacks. Those days were so much fun! A wave of nostalgia just hit me.

[Liz Tanner]

I haven't owned a tree to display since I moved out of my parent's house to go to college.

Ours growing up was fake. I very vaguely recall us having a real one maybe once. I was informed anecdotally that the real tree looked great, When my dad and grandpa set it in the tree stand,... **WOOSH**

All the needles on one side, straight to the floor. Then, our cats happened to it. That was my family's one and done real tree experience, haha!