Real tree or prelit?

We have had real trees and we have had artificial over the years. I don’t mind either but I do like to put the lights on it myself (2 sets usually).
I love them best when the days ends and they are in a dimly lit room with the lights twinkling.
Also it has got to have Cadbury’s chocolate decorations on it.

Gin

Incidentally, why are people having multiple trees around the house? Where did this trend spring from?

I have 4 up by December -kitchen, dining room, sitting room and conservatory, I didn't realise it was now a trend, always done it. Might put tiny little ones with battery lights in the bedrooms this year too

I love real trees but always have a fake. We threw our tree out last year after 30 years service it had finally got a bit threadbare and branches had started to break. Bought a new one a few weeks ago that looks very authentic - not prelit, we have plenty of lights. We use a lot of pine cones for decorations so don't miss the smell of the tree. We always use our original candle lights that glow and a set of LED lights that twinkle gently and light up the decorations.

I like the idea of renting a tree though.

Always real, love the smell, that’s Christmas for me.

Incidentally, why are people having multiple trees around the house? Where did this trend spring from?

Re trees and decorations.. My mother always insisted that the house be cleaned from top to bottom, the grate cleared and black leaded before any tree could come into the house. This was done on Christmas Eve, never before and left up until Twelfth. Shecwas not normally a superstitious person but for her generation I think this was the norm. I must say for us children it was great for building up the excitement and feeling of Christmas. I feel guilty when I put mine up earlier but usually do it about the 15 Dec.

Fake when the DDs were small, then real. When they left home, (as a concession to them, as they’d come over for Christmas) the tree would go up a couple of days before Christmas and be taken down as soon as they’d gone home on Boxing Day.

I’d prefer none if truth be told!

We’ve always had a real tree, I don’t really like fake ones at all. I do like the modern bare branch tree look though, so I think I’ll move to that when I can’t manage a real tree, and still bring in foliage for the mantelpiece etc.

When dds were still at home, they invariably went with dh to choose the (real) tree, and they always came back with such a huge one - wide as well as tall - that dh would have to saw at least a foot off the bottom, so it’d fit under the ceiling, and we’d have to shift furniture around to accommodate the bushy width.

It always ended up looking lovely, but must say I’m glad now that we can settle for a ‘mere’ 6 foot one!

For the past couple of years dd1 has ‘rented’ the same 6 foot plus potted tree from the farm - it had grown quite a bit the 2nd time. They take it back after 12th night, for it to be re planted. Last year I noticed new growth showing shortly before it went ‘home’.

I can’t help wondering how long it’s going to be before it will no longer fit in their house, though!

I saw a little tree in a pot with lights yesterday in M&S for £15 - pretty albeit small.

Maybe a nice idea for someone who can't lift a big tree or is away for most of the festive season?

For my first Christmas wage packet back in the early 60s I bought a 5’ silver tinsel Christmas Tree, my parents jaws hit the floor, but they rallied! It was a real pain to get it home on the bus as well.
The following year I had it to myself in my bedroom and downstairs we had a real tree.

Real or none.

Real.

I’ve always had a real tree, about 5’, MrJ has spent 24 fruitless years trying to convince me otherwise and failed. We’re at my daughter’s house for lunch this year, first time ever, she’s getting a real tree for me, I’m quite touched.

annsixty

This year I have bought a Balsam Hill 4ft prelit one for the conservatory, we haven’t decided yet about the living room.
When we unbox the BH one , if we really like it we may get one for the other room.
I was a bit disconcerted to read that the initial setup can take up to two hours but subsequent years are relatively easy.
We shall see.

I think there is a sale on at Balsam Hill at the moment with up to 50% off

www.balsamhill.co.uk/

I have an artificial tree - not pre -lit - but it wasn't an expensive one. The BH ones look lovely. I might have to treat myself

We have had real trees in the past. One year we put it up really early but by Christmas Eve all of the needles had fallen off. I didn't realise you had to water them. We ended up with a last minute artificial one that we got in the sale.

We used to have a real tree when the children were little but for many years we've had artificial trees. The tree we have for the living room we bought from our local garden centre. The pre-lit one we usually put in the hall came from QVC. This year that one is going into the dining room as we have new plans for the hall.

This year I have bought a Balsam Hill 4ft prelit one for the conservatory, we haven’t decided yet about the living room.
When we unbox the BH one , if we really like it we may get one for the other room.
I was a bit disconcerted to read that the initial setup can take up to two hours but subsequent years are relatively easy.
We shall see.

Put my first ever pre-lit tree up yesterday. It is 7ft and was so easy to assemble (came in 3 sections) I just fluffed it up, switched it on. It looks so pretty sparkling in the corner of the dining room

I always loved real trees, but realistically I can't cope with them any more, so now I have a pretty little artificial one which I bring out every year and decorate it.

Personally I’d never want an artificial tree, but there may often come a time when a real one is just too much faff - never mind allergies. And the fake ones are so amazingly realistic nowadays.

Though I should add that back in the 70s, during our first year or so in Oman, when there were virtually no western style shops and so little of anything - let alone anything Christmassy - that you actually wanted to buy*, I was so happy when a new shop opened and they actually had a Christmas tree! It was the most fake thing imaginable, green and white tinsel ‘branches’, no more than 3 feet tall, and came in a box with a set of lights and a few baubles.

I absolutely loved that tree, and still regret eventually chucking it along with a load of other stuff that had been stored in the loft for a few decades.
*you could always get frankincense, though - whole sacks of it in the souk, for relative peanuts.

I no longer have a real tree having, like MrOops, become allergic to them.
We have a large pot plant in the sitting room and it gets decked out with battery-operated twinkly lights and our special baubles.
Our other baubles are dotted around in glass vases with some other bits of sparkle.

I always had a real tree which was the cause of many an argument when I was married. My exh would get furious if it wasn't absolutely straight and took his ire out on me as it was absolutely my fault. I moved to an artificial one after the children left home because it was easier to put it up alone. I'm tempted to get a small real tree for the hall this year. I love the scent.

We have always had real trees 6" in our 3 downstairs lounges when we lived in the big family house it took 3/4 days to dress them it was a big shock when we moved to this one bedroomed bungalow and now have a half already dressed tree which just sits on the wall with some smaller Christmas trinkets which the ACs have made over the years.

couldn't!!

We had a 6ft had a prelit one and it saved so much time and squables, when assembling.
However, it became too heavy for us to lift and when a bulb went, we could't replace it.

We have a real tree outdoors and a 6’ fake one (that we’ve had for about 20 years) indoors as MrOops is allergic to the smell of pine and would cough and sneeze the whole of Christmas.

I have a White Company tree in my dining room each year, since the kids complained about the earth smell from the potted ones I used to have in there.

It’s not pre-lit but looks really authentic, worth every ££

(I still have a tall real one in the sitting room, not ready to give that up yet) 🎄