Does anyone buy a real Christmas tree anymore?

[Doughnuts68]

Does anyone buy a real Christmas tree anymore?

Isn’t everything? On MN at least.

We did this for a few years. Tree stays outside in pot, then gradually brought inside. Same tree.

I buy a real one every year, most people do where I live and there's a Christmas tree farm right at the end of my road.

Nothing beats the smell of a real tree.

The very first thing I did on the christmas I left home was get a real tree. Growing up in the 70s with a balding plastic tree made me swear that once I had my own proper home (I rented bedsits for many years before that), I would get a real tree

I would never get a fake tree

Ours was from Sainsbury’s. It lived for several years being brought in for Christmas and then put back outside again. Most supermarkets sell them, and DIY shops.

Yes of course. Why on earth would I want a fake plastic one? They are horrible

We live in Britain. Everything is a class thing.

Real tree plus mix of old glass baubles and homemade decs > Real or fake tree plus random selection of cheap baubles but no kids decorations > expensive fake tree plus themed and fashionable baubles.

I know all sorts of people with real and fake trees. Our baubles don't really match and we have lots of old and homemade ones. I don't like the idea of a dead tree in my house so I have a fake one that we've had for years - I've even had people check whether or not it is real on several occasions. We live in a forest though so there are quite a few real ones around!

We are on MN. Everything is a class thing

Fixed it for you.

A lot of people wouldn't feel comfortable with a fake tree in their home.

We get a real one. We live near a Christmas tree farm and try different varieties. Going into the field and choosing one is part of the preparations for Christmas.

We don't have any tree in the house, we have some growing in the garden though

MN is a British site and reflects Britain. Where else are there as many TV shows and books published about class as there are here?it's not just a MN obsession. If you don't like it then you need to acknowledge it to understand it and change it. Or are you pretending it doesn't exist because you benefit from it and don't want that to change?

If you don't like it then you need to acknowledge it to understand it and change it.

Change what? Why? Strict divisions between social classes are thing of the past and not something I can worked up about. The only time I hear class being discussed is on MN. Hence my post.

Or are you pretending it doesn't exist because you benefit from it and don't want that to change?

As far as I am concerned, it’s an irrelevance. The only benefit to me is that I get to live my life unencumbered by a massive chip on my shoulder.

@etulosba it is such a very odd thing to say that class divisions don’t exist. In my lifetime the divisions have grown wider and wider. This is just an objective fact. Reams and reams of research is being done about it. Class is objective reality. You might not like it (neither do I) but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

The threads on MN are full every day of discussions which are really about the class divide eg.
Are real Christmas trees better?
Are forest schools a good idea?
What do you think about breast feeding in public?
Should I let my boy wear pink?
How often do you wash your towels?
etc etc ad infinitum

Ask any sociologist or economist if class exists.

@etulosba
Here’s a link to a BBC website item on social class. You can even do a quiz to determine your class. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a question about Christmas trees in it

www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2013/newsspec_5093/index.stm

Oh yes, as big as will fit in the house.

We live rurally and buy from a local farm, we really enjoy going to choose it.

We have recently got two kittens so this Christmas could be interesting 🤔

always! Theres a Christmas tree farm a mile from me and its where i go,

Here’s a link to a BBC website item on social class. You can even do a quiz to determine your class

That quiz is nearly ten years old and intended as entertainment for aspiring Hyacinth Buckets.

I can’t believe that anybody would take it seriously.

The threads on MN are full every day of discussions which are really about the class divide eg.
Are real Christmas trees better?
Are forest schools a good idea?
What do you think about breast feeding in public?
Should I let my boy wear pink?
How often do you wash your towels?
etc etc ad infinitum

Although, having now read this, maybe I can.

Fake. Never had a real one. Every year we think, ooh this year we should get a real one. Then we see the prices and what we can get - 4ft of twigs for €60? I don't fucking think so.

That's a massive whack of money for us, to buy something that's going to die in three weeks.

We're not I the UK, so there aren't the same opportunities to re-pot, re-plant etc. You dump it in a special place once you've finished with it. We almost all live in flats, no gardens to re-plant.

We'll still to our gloriously plastic tree that we bought for €12 in 2005, covered in the decorations ds and I have made over the years.

We don't buy decorations every year, we don't have colour themes, there's a lot of felt, crochet and baubles made of recycled whatever. However, we open our doors to feed anyone over the festive period, so often have a Houseful of people enjoy lunch or a glass of something with their turrón.

We did until last year when we switched to fake mainly because we were spending £70 a year on a real tree. So I spent £150 on a fake one to last us a long time but I do miss a real one.

You can't beat the smell of a real Christmas tree. 🎄

Yes. I hate fake trees. They seem utterly pointless. If I couldn’t have a real one I wouldn’t bother at all.

We have a real tree every year. Started when we lived in a flat and had nowhere to store a fake one and it’s just carried on.

We buy ours from a lovely local farm. You can choose from the ones they’ve cut that day and lined up against the wall or you can go out into the field and choose one to be cut for you. It’s a little ritual of ours now and it’s nice to support local businesses. Plus they have the cutest dogs that receive allll the fusses and belly rubs from people choosing their trees.

Well it's not really pointless if you can't afford to buy a tree every year and want your house to look christmassy. It doesn't take a genius to work that out, does it?