We have the grandkids (their parents get the credit)
Tennis, gymnastics, soccer, baseball, ice scathing, horseback riding, dancing, and summer camps. Not all at the same time however!

My parents or I have had an artificial tree since 1969. That is all I know.

Once we had a silver tree ( my mom's after dad died ) and the darn thing had a multicolored disk..as it turned the tree turned colors !!!!

The carpet smells so nice for a long time after vacuuming up all those pine needles.

Yay, Rosie. Your grandkids are being raised right! Ours do have a lot of activities like those, but every minute of their free time is spent with their noses in their screens.

My middle one is like that..but no excuse ADHD/Hyperactivity does need outlets and the tech stuff is a respite for his brain.

I grew up with a live tree. When I married, our first tree was a huge Mexican wrought iron bird cage on a stand, filled with presents sitting in our first apt in Del Rio, TX.
We were moving to Clovis, NM for three months right before Xmas, and then to Ft. Walton Beach, FL for another three months before DH left for Viet Nam. Not a great Xmas memory.
When he returned, we went to Randolph in San Antonio. Found out DH had allergies, so we bought an artificial tree and dragged it around the country for quite a few years....even to Hawaii for 3 yrs. When we settled in Austin, I decided we needed a new tree and got a big one. By that time we had accumulated lots of ornaments from all over. This tree has lasted nearly 20 years!
When our daughter and family moved this summer, I offered her the big tree. Their new house has glass across the entire back. (She already had all the Hawaiian ornaments, as well as most from the Orient). We had decided to get a small tree in our advanced years.
As I got ready to take the tree down last year, I took a photo of it to remember how it looked, crammed with memories. Well, turns out the kiddo is looking for their own memory maker and my tree is mine at least one more year. We did buy all new lights last year. There were so many of the older ones that we had to put a note on the microwave......Do Not Use Without Turning Off The Christmas Tree Lights..... It would trip the circuit breaker every time.
I do miss a real tree, but I don't miss worrying about it drying out or having to vacuum up needles from the rug and carpet. I did copy the link to HD's ScentSicles! And I still have that bird cage hanging in our oak tree out back!

Ever since I had my first male dog I have used an artificial tree. What I get is a couple of Balsam wreaths for the scent.

We bought an artificial one about 3 years ago. We had had a live one for 30 years. I hated the mess, the modly gross water... all the work. My husband always wanted a live tree and I always gave in. Three years ago I was sick- very sick- with pneumonia. The week before Christmas I put my foot down- told him it had to be a fake tree or no tree. I was just too sick to have a moldy tree making me cough and sneeze more.

Hence, the fake tree. So much easier for us old folks. Very happy, no regrets.

And, I agree, the scent sickles are great.

Karen

Oh, and for scent: I sometimes go to Christmas tree lots. Usually they trim the tree for buyers. Often they trim off the lower branches, and they'll give them to you for no charge. I make swags for walls and centerpieces for tables. It gives the scent and little work. Things like this are easy to make
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop...


https://www.wayfair.com/Nearly...

Karen

Love the scent of "real". We waited one year for a cold day in December, which hard to come by in Houston since our winters really start around mid January. Then also hard to come by was the tree farm. Had fun with the family choosing and cutting down a tree. That was the year we found out that DD2 was allergic to pine. Poor thing suffered long after, too since those needles get into everything.

The following year I talked DH into a $149 tree claiming it will "last forever". That was a LOT of money back then! It still is but not compared to some of the tree prices now. It didn't last forever of course but I had a hard time replacing it because DH remembered the "lasts for ever" part! Finally replaced it 3 years ago with a 7ft slim-design tree BB&Beyond pre-lit with some little pine cones and bits of plastic snow on it. It fits nicely into a corner and needs less ornaments. I like it. I make up for the scent with a Bath and Body Works candle in "Balsam". I burn 2 of the large size each season! They run BOGO specials in early December and I stock up for the holidays. Smells almost better than a tree! Often I burn a Cinnamon candle along with it.

Now DD2 is all grown up, she has become even more allergic to her old home: the dogs, the birds, the dust . No matter what I've done right down to removing the carpet, changing/cleaning the air filters, and mopping before she arrives for a visit back home she still is affected. Poor thing!

A HEPA air filter and a sack arond the bed may help!

Sandi..what a WONDERFUL tale.. LOVED it.
The cage sounds perfect. Imwould have had a hard time replacing it..it would have had to partner with a tree.

I am really liking your stories and suggestions. Thank you.

And thanks to you for sparking some old memories!

That is why I am dragging my feet

I live alone and don't decorate at home up here. I help decorate the tree at church. I help decorate the tree at the hospital. I help decorate the bandstand down town. I help decorate the tree at the fire hall for the children's Christmas party.

Christmas in The Alps lasts for a whole month. There are a lot of Christmas activities up here. By the time Christmas season is over, I've made lots of new memories.

I may live alone, but I certainly don't spend Christmas alone ...

However, to answer your question, Rosie, I would go with an artificial tree.

When my godparents switched to an artificial tree, no one really noticed. Gradually, the Christmas feast became more of a pot luck and Mom didn't have to cook or even clean up. She became more and more of a guest who played with the grands. She sparkled. The house was filled with Christmas joy. No stress.

@RoseBlush1, your holidays sound perfect. I love having a lot of extra hands placing decorations just so on a tree, filling up on cookies and cocoa and visiting. Your holidays sound wonderful.
I don't know about you all, but this thread has really sparked up some Christmas spirit for me. Time to write some lists for gifts and cookies, and cards.

@Missingrosi, we had that same three, I was 6 and in a new huge scary school on Queen Ann in Seattle. I remember that tree changing the color of the walls and windows, and the little noise made from the changing light. It was so silver. It reflected off moms glasses as she stitched up hand made Barbie clothes for us, from Santa.
We have an artificial tree, for 15 or so years now. It was dh who insisted we not risk damaging a new rug. I was slow to warm up to fake, but it really is much easier and much cleaner.
I bring in cedar boughs from our tree in the front yard, so we don't sacrifice the smell of Christmas.

Nice stories all.
Laurie B

I think you all have convinced me. I will have a last fresh cut this year and after Christmas buy the reduced cost tree. A thousand dollars tag I have seen on some (but they look real enough to get within an inch! and search the boughs for a stowaway snake!) Forgive my snide remark but for a thousand bucks..the damn thing should leap up day after Thanksgiving...decorate itself while fixing me hot cocoa, humming 🎶Joy to the Workd🎶 and rubbing my feet! Cookies would not hurt either....

Lyn, your Christmas sounds wonderful.....looks like the perfect way to finish up that bear (one final gulp) once and for all.

Rosie, we didn't spend nearly $1000, and I think ours is nice.
I think it was around $200 or $300


Fresh free pine branches from tree lot for easy homemade decorations and scent



Karen

Love the colored lights. DH a purest he remembers incandescent from childhood. I like a tree with no theme...I would hang it with tinsel if I could...gaudy is me!

The trees we saw were balsam
.the limbs go right to the ground.

I saw a redwood that I really loved..but never having had a redwood...I fear it won't be the right choice and the choices are mindboggling..the needles are really really authentic...

BUT I am sure there are lots less expensive we just need to look. That is why I started the thread. We spend about $70-90 a year it seems and so if we live at least 10 years....

I should start another and ask for photos..not about the artificial vs fresh cut but just about memories..what sort of Christmases do folks remember .lwhat are the stories behind some ornaments..,that sort of thing. I realize not all Christmases were magical..some very hard..or sad...lonely or crowded....but they all belong to us happy to not --don't they.. the fabric of our years...

@RoseBlush1 I think your post has put me in the Christmas spirit! Sounds like you have many good friends up there on the mountain.

@MISSINGROSIE Enjoy your live tree one more year. You may decide you really only want the experience of a real tree. I know that the older I get, the less stuff I bring down from the attic.