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We used to have a real tree every year, but after seeing how quickly a cut tree can become engulfed in flames, we switched to fake.

ph4ever wrote:

pbans wrote:

springparrot wrote:Have to use fake---too many allergies in our family

same here.....mostly me....it's all my fault my kids don't know the joy of a REAL Christmas tree.....something to talk about at the therapist in their later years, I suppose.

give them nut goo and they'll get over it

it's chillin' as we type.......

For years, we went out and cut our own tree. Then one year, the tree farm we had gone to for years didn't have any trees (some kind of disease) so we bought one not far from the house. Two years ago, we bought a fake one from Frontgate. It's all prelit and most people can't tell it's fake. It takes an hour to get the tree up with a lot less cussing. I'll use that one until I can light up a palm tree!

My apartment is too small for a big tree so I got one of those table top fiber-optic trees. It rotates and the lights change colors.

Kinda psycodelic

MUST BE REAL, usually a Norway Spruce or a Douglas Fir.

We are so traditional it's crazy. Not only do we have a real tree every year, Mollie puts the angel on and Jim is in charge of placing all the candy canes (can't trust her, she'd eat them all before they ever saw a tree!) We only use ornaments that mean something. Either baby's first Christmas, our first year married, ones they made, gifts, etc...It's one of my very favorite times of the year. This is usually done while a Christmas movie is on. Just like we stepped out of a movie.

springparrot wrote:Have to use fake---too many allergies in our family

Faking is not good

Last year we bought a (fake) Palm Tree with prestrung lights. It freed up floor space (small rooms) and we will do it again this year. Reminds me of Christmas in the Caribbean (got everything but snow!)

I love the real trees but haven't had one for years. I have a fake tree but probably won't put up this year, 6 month old kitten wil have it destroyed and shredded in about an hour.

we arrive home on saturday night from driving back from florida. sunday we'll go to one of the many xmas tree farms around our area. fresh is the only way to go in our house. we often get 2 large trees. we have so many ornaments. one tree is full of shell ornaments and scallop shell lights that i made myself, thank you. we also have a table top tree for my buyers choice caroler's.

i totally understand using gloves with the colorado blue spruces. we used to get them from the farm. one year we left it up until early march. it hardly dropped any needles.

to help with the mess of getting the tree out of the house, i put a plastic xmas tree bag under my tree shirt. when it's time to take it out, i just take the skirt away and pull up the bag over the tree. no needles hit the floor on the way out. it's worth the $3.99. then, it's off to the chipper.

i love christmas time. i just hate the months january, february, march, april and may.

Gotta use the gloves on the blue spruces, but they seem to be the strongest for holding ornaments, which we only use the special ones by now. Also the tree farm gives us a bag to put under the tree when we put it up, so it's not as messy when we take it down.

Had to go fake (tree) and we do NOT go 'prelit'. That is part of the fun of putting up the tree, you meant drinking right!
We will put a real tree on the deck this year.
Last year Christmas was in the Keys and we went out and bought the whole package and decorated it with a Florida theme. It was fun.

We go cut a real tree every year. Our favorite tree farm is on a lake and one year we saw an eagle flying over while cutting the tree. We usually go for a Balsam fir because I love the smell. (allergies be gone!)

The arrival of the tree in the living room is the highlight of the cat's year. They sleep under it until we haul it out after Christmas. All the cloth/non breakable ornaments go on the bottom branches. We find them in odd parts of the house throughout the year.

I can't get even a quarter of the ornaments I own on the tree or up in the house.....I think I need a REALLY BIG house at Christmas time....

I'm all about an easy to manage, fake tree. Thing already has the lights on it. You just open it up like an umbrella. Shockingly, it actually looks nice.

As a child, my folks always had an artificial tree and I swore when I had my own home I'd always have a real tree. And I did for years, but then my youngest son & I started with allergies & spent the entire month of December sneezing & coughing. Then got an artificial 6 footer. Now that it's just me here...I opt for a small 4 ft prelit tree..which is just fine!! After all, its not the decorations, but the people you spend the holiday with that make it great!! (Plus since I have a small house, it makes more room for more people!! )

But as decorations go, I have to say, in my eyes there are few things more beautiful than a huge, brightly decorated Christmas tree (with multi color lights, not just white ones!!)

Nothing this year. Because of where we lived the last 10 years, all we could do was plastic.

This year, since the baby is due right after the holiday, and due to financial concerns, we're not really decorating, instead focusing on getting the nursery together.

Can someone please explain to me how the Christmas tree has anything to do with the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Christ?? Was there a tree in the manger or was it out in the desert?

Yes, I'm one of those that doesn't get a tree, but I live alone and everyone else will have at least one tree up, even though they can't tell me why.

~Hippolyte~ wrote:Can someone please explain to me how the Christmas tree has anything to do with the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Christ?? Was there a tree in the manger or was it out in the desert?

Yes, I'm one of those that doesn't get a tree, but I live alone and everyone else will have at least one tree up, even though they can't tell me why.

It comes from the same place as about 95% of Christmas, and even Christian traditions.

Wikipedia wrote:The modern custom, however, although likely related, cannot be proved to be directly descended from pagan tradition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Tree#History

I'm not sure when it began, I think around the time of Constantine, but at some point, the Catholic Church demonized pagan religions, and adopted many of their traditions such as the Christmas Tree, the date on December 25th (a major pagan holiday [Bacchus?]), the giving of gifts (if it was really Christian, Santa would come on January 6 when the Wise Men arrived), etc.

Here's another one..

http://www.christmas-tree.com/where.html

Did a celebration around a Christmas tree on a bitter cold Christmas Eve at Trenton, New Jersey, turn the tide for Colonial forces in 1776? According to legend, Hessian mercenaries were so reminded of home by a candlelit evergreen tree that they abandoned their guardposts to eat, drink and be merry. Washington attached that night and defeated them.

The Christmas tree has gone through a long process of development rich in many legends, says David Robson, Extension Educator, Horticulture, with the Springfield Extension Center.

Some historians trace the lighted Christmas tree to Martin Luther. He attached lighted candles to a small evergreen tree, trying to simulate the reflections of the starlit heaven -- the heaven that looked down over Bethlehem on the first Christmas Eve.

Until about 1700, the use of Christmas trees appears to have been confined to the Rhine River District. From 1700 on, when lights were accepted as part of the decorations, the Christmas tree was well on its way to becoming a tradition in Germany. Then the tradition crossed the Atlantic with the Hessian soldiers.

Some people trace the origin of the Christmas tree to an earlier period. Even before the Christian era, trees and boughs were used for ceremonials. Egyptians, in celebrating the winter solstice -- the shortest day of the year -- brought green date palms into their homes as a symbol of "life triumphant over death". When the Romans observed the feast of saturn, part of the ceremony was the raising of an evergreen bough. The early Scandinavians were said to have paid homage to the fir tree.

To the Druids, sprigs of evergreen holly in the house meant eternal life; while to the Norsemen, they symbolized the revival of the sun god Balder. To those inclined toward superstition, branches of evergreens placed over the door kept out witches, ghosts, evil spirits and the like.

This use does not mean that our Christmas tree custom evolved solely from paganism, any more than did some of the present-day use of sighed in various religious rituals.

Trees and branches can be made purposeful as well as symbolic. The Christmas tree is a symbol of a living Christmas spirit and brings into our lives a pleasant aroma of the forest. The fact that balsam fir twigs, more than any other evergreen twigs, resemble crosses may have had much to do with the early popularity of balsam fir used as Christmas trees.

Because of my wifes allergies she has a very nice artificial 7 foot tree she bought many years ago and brought with her when she moved here. Looks better than a lot of real trees I've seen.