To think natural Christmas trees are rubbish

[Grindelwaldswand]

Got our first real Christmas tree yesterday and it is useless its 6ft but has massive gaps in between the branches and it can't even hold a bauble on the tip of the branch without falling to the floor i had visions of an amazing tree that would fill the hluse with the smell of pine needles but its scentless. definitely getting a fake tree next year.

We were very lucky, I ordered mine through DS's school so it could have been any shape. Fortunately we got a lovely one. Next year I'll choose one though, looks like a fun festive thing to do.

Not my experience at all OP.

We always get a huge Nordman fir, Very bushy, majestic, smells divine, no dropping, soft flat "needles" with no pointed end. Makes the whole house smell like a forest.

Having said that I have seen a lot of crap cheap trees around.

You have to choose the tree really carefully! This is a whole part of the fun - you go to the yard, stomp around in the freezing cold, get loads of them out and twirl them to make sure the branches well spaced, that the bottom isn't too fat, that the trunk isn't too big to go into the holder, that all bits are alive and green and not brown and dead. One calls to you, and then and only then do you get it bagged.

We have a little potted tree we bought from ASDA about 5 years ago that lives in its pot in the garden. We bring it in about halfway through the month. Its a bit bigger every year. It's a little lop sided and bushier on one side than the other...but that's trees for you. Stubbornly natural.

We have one of each a fake one and a real one. We don't even have a big living room, we've just put one in each corner. The kids decorated one and dh and I did the other.

My mum's has pinecones and berries on it. Its actually quite pretty it always reminds me of narnia for some reason

Moonlight- yes we make an afternoon of it. Usually DD and I go to our local garden centre, spend ages choosing, ( she has a brilliant eye for size and shape) and browse the centre, and go for a hot chocolate in the cafe.

Meanwhile OH and DS have cleared the space , got out the bucket, tray, cloth and decorations, made some mulled wine for adults to drink while we decorate the tree together.
It's a day we look forward to.

Yes, we had a lovely day choosing our tree on Sunday choosing our tree. DH insisted on the biggest one imaginable, as usual. Hot chocolate and cake in the garden centre cafe with the DD's. Home to Christmas music and mulled wine while we decorated it (well, 18 month old DD2 mainly just threw baubles around the room!), followed by Muppets Christmas Carol.

OP, do you fill your home with plastic flowers too??

I have had a real tree every single year since I left home. We always had an artificial one before that. Nothing could persuade me to go back even tho I can see they've improved massively. I get a 9ft nordman and it is glorious. I can sit and look at it for hours 🎄 I am a Christmas tree but tho

Our biggest Christmas treat is our tree. We get a non drop smelly tree every year. It's really bushy and smells gorgeous.You got the wrong tree.

Not all fake trees are shit. Ours cost a small fortune. But as we normally spend about £80 on a tree it's will pay for itself in four years.

I like the asymmetry of a real tree. The gaps are fine - just fill them with baubles. Even if it's a bit scrappy, it will look lovely with all the stuff on it.

I had an artificial tree when DS was tiny, for the reduced mess - it was pretty enough, but I never really liked it.

No tree here this year though - if DH can't clear up his hoard mess, I can't be bothered with doing a tree.

Yabu
Fake Christmas trees are disgusting. I prefer a scentless real tree to a fake one that smells of plastic. And the plastic ones look too perfect, I like the imperfections of a real tree.
That said, I think you've ended up with a crap real tree if you can't even hang baubles on it!

Fake trees are not actually trees though- that's the bit I struggle with.
It's a bit like if my OH were to buy me a dozen plastic roses.

We paid £15 for a fake tree for our son's first Christmas. It is still going strong and this year my son celebrates his 13th Christmas. For us it is about money, no way we can afford a real tree every year. I'm pleased to hear the 10 year thing cos I do worry about the environmental impact of plastic vs real.

Our artificial tree is about 20 years old now and it has plenty asymmetry. I'd rather have a real tree, though. I grew up in New England and a highlight of December was heading out to the conservation land where they had a plot of Christmas trees for sale. You pointed and they chopped it down for you. My parents were always paranoid about fire though, and our cats would delight in running up and down the tree.

We have a small house but like a massive 6ft tree, it's part of the magic of Christmas for the kids to have something outsidey indoors. Plus it's not Christmas until one of you has shouted bastardy bastardy tree while picking razor sharp needles out of your toes. Ouch!

Don't like putting it away though with all the needles everywhere.

Ours costs about twenty odd quid, there's no way I would spend up to 80 quid on a real tree even if it does shed less.

YABU, they smell gorgeous. Are you sure you've bought the right type of tree?

we have had an artificial tree for more than 10 years, it isnt the best but at least my carbon footprint isnt too bad

i used to get real trees when they were a fiver off a lorry but cant imagine how much they cost now

I love our real tree it's bushy and massive and gorgeous! We always go to same farm to get ours and after years of outdamnedwinds experience DH has taken to muttering cryptic muttering from a distance while dds and I take over

and DH complains about the pine needles of a real tree

I think it depends on what you grew up with. I can't bring myself to like fake trees - they are so perfectly triangular, like bushy plastic cones. I like a tree to look like a tree.

You bought a real tree UNSEEN???

As a few posters have already said, buying a real tree is a hands-on, time-consuming process. And one that is fine-tuned over many years! There are lots of different types of tree on the market. My criteria when tree buying are:

Does it smell of pine
Does it have enough bare trunk at the bottom to avoid having to saw off branches to get it to fit in the stand
Is it the right height and width
Is it not too bottom heavy (a lot of real trees are so most of the decorations end up low down)
Are the branches strong enough to hold ornaments without drooping
Is there a nice spike at the top for the fairy
Will the needles drop
Does it look fresh
Does it have some nice dense branches to hide the lights in so you can see them twinkling but not the wire too much

Often compromises have to be made - usually the ones that smell nice are the ones that drop their needles.

You can, I think, buy a pine spray for scentless trees. I also think it's a bit early yet for a real tree if you want it still to look fresh on Xmas day ...