When I was a kid, my mom always had a fake tree and we always had red bows and white doves on it...every single friggin' year. Drove us all nuts, she did. LOL

Even since I've been out on my own...it's been real trees each year. I usually end up getting my way and we bring home a white pine that is slightly maligned, well...because we can usually haggle it down to a decent price.

I love real trees....just hate the damn needles.

We had real trees when I was real young. Then we went to fake trees. When I started my own family, we returned to real trees. My wife wouldn't have it any other way, and I agreed with the idea. I remember one season it was decided I would cut our tree myself. Ft Knox allowed one to go into the woods and cut one for free. They weren't trimmed and shaped like the farmed trees of course. Just wild pines, and you had to look at a lot of them to find one just right. In fact, I had to make something like three trips to the woods, cutting a tree and bringing it home each time, before I brought one home that passed inspection.

Later on, we went back to fake trees. Most lately, I have been opposed to having a tree at all.

I've never had a real tree. My parent's tree was (and still is as far as I know), the butt-ugliest and hardest to assemble artificial tree I've ever run across, but Mom had a lot of very beautiful old ornaments from Holland that made it into a very attractive tree.

A few years ago in January, I bought a really nice tree because I happened to be in the store when the manager was packing up the remaining Christmas stuff. He was much happier selling it to me cheaply than having to take off all the lights & put it back in the warehouse, so I got the lights for free and the tree below cost. The lights just stay on the tree, so setting up is much easier. I don't have a lot of nice decorations yet, but we make new ones every year, and each January I try to buy one really nice ornament.

We always had live trees when I was growing up, my favorite was the balsam because of the smell.
These days, it's too much work to have to mess with a live tree, so I go for the fake one too.
But I miss that fabulous smell.

Got my white pine today.

Real tree, has to be. Just brought it on Friday, biggest one our local grocer had over six and a half foot, no idea what type of tree.

Just checked on website it's a Norwegian Spruce

Real tree, here. When I was young, my grandmother had an entry hallway to her house that was two stories high. We always put the tree at the backend by the walkway that connected two rooms. That way we could stand up there and put the star on top. Usually the tree was around 16 feet in height. We also hung the tinsel from the walkway.

Now we have to settle for about 7' indoors. Better than nothing, but I sure miss those days.

Oooh...that sounds nice.

Hey, Claire...you're supposed to get a white pine, dangit!

(seriously...I am an xmas tree snob)

not a readily availible type here.

Fake trees! Bad bad bad people!!

Dang, you're all shooting people over it.

I'm not so much opposed to having a tree, but I don't see any point in it; but, every year, I go ahead and put it up and am inevitably glad that I did.

There's something kinda magical about a brightly-lit Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. I enjoy when DH and whatever company we have visiting have gone to bed, and I turn out all the lights except those on the tree, make a cup of tea, light some candles, and get cozy on the couch with an afghan and then just kinda gaze at the tree...reflecting on the past, the present, and the future (probably because I've watched the movie about Scrooge one too many times...lolol).

Anyhoo, we use a fake tree because dealing with a real one is a pain in the butt, from going out to get it to hauling it from the car to keeping it watered to sweeping up the needles to finally hauling the bitch out to the curb...lol.

We always had Scotch pines when I was growing up, so it's weird that I don't feel inspired to carry on that tradition and have a real tree...but...I grew up to be a bit on the "Bah Humbug" side.

Our tradition is a christmas tree at my mother's gravesite. I thought of doing the same at my father's site, but I wasn't sure if they allowed it there.

Maybe next year.