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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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Christmas tree, that is!
My kids bitched all weekend because I wont put up a real tree....It's too damn messy and I forget to water it. so its a huge fire hazzard by Christmas morning!
What is your preference and why??
Just curious! (:
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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Personally for me if I am gonna put one up well if I had my own place I would go real more to bring back memories from when I was a kid me and my Grampa used to go cut a fresh one down every year mind you from a farm but that is one thing I always remember doing yearly. Course like ya said the fake ones have an advantage in a way but not the same thing either LOL
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 3/1/2009
Posts: 1,100
Location: melbourne
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Fake one for me. Much less mess. Much easier to deal with :)
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 9/26/2010
Posts: 605
Location: Toronto, Canada
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Real!
Just make sure you get new L.E.D lights. they don't admit as much heat.
But for me, the real fun is after Christmas, and burning it! When dry, those things light up well! lol (probably not what you want to hear...lol)
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Rank: Advanced Wordsmith
Joined: 6/5/2010
Posts: 69
Location: Mars
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Fake! ...less mess..just put it back in the box and reserve nature!! Plant a tree save a life...ok yea im a bit of a green freak..so? lol
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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Real.. I do not care about the mess.. I just need my place to smell of pine or spruce :)
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 3/11/2010
Posts: 108
Location: United States
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My family have always had a real tree and the fire hazard thing has never been an issue. Also in regards to the mess they make, you can get trees now which keep their needles, so there is minimal clean up. They are more expensive, but nothing beats a real tree at Christmas time 
Ice cream + Candy = Yummy
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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FAKE ...no mess and easy to handle. And if you want that smell of pine needles -they come in a spray bottle as well. The last time I had a real tree ...my dog refused to stop peeing on the damn thing - so ...fake it is!!!
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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real, as long as it wasnt cut too early so it wont droop with the heat
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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We have a fake one... but then again... a lot of people here have fake ones.
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 4/10/2009
Posts: 1,891
Location: United Kingdom
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Got to be a real one!! My parents try to get us to put a fake one up but we just bring a real one home anyway. Youve gotta love that xmas tree smell
*Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?*
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 9/6/2010
Posts: 2,236
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom
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As Scrooge's illegitimate love child, I don't go in for Christmas that much, but if we have a tree, it has to be real... a throw back from my childhood perhaps, but you can't beat a real tree in the house... now to work out how to stop the cats and child climbing it....
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 8/11/2009
Posts: 2,018
Location: whispering conspiratorially in your ear, Bermuda
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As a kid we always had a fake tree (Pine-Sol spray is really quite pleasant), so have had to adjust to the mess of a real tree since being married in deference to the wifes wishes. It smells better, but how come I always have to clear the damn thing up & out every year? I want one of those modern, super-cool fake trees that look the part, open like an umbrella, and already have the (working) lights on them. 
"Whoa, lady, I only speak two languages, English and bad English." - Korben Dallas, from The Fifth Element "If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience?" - George Bernard Shaw
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 8/7/2009
Posts: 10,593
Location: The Other Side Of The Mirror
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We always get a fresh cut tree, kind of a tradition. But as I get older and when my girls are eventually are out on their own, I may go over to the dark side and go fake. Some of the fake trees look so real anyhow and they are much easier. And better for environment too.
But love the smell of real tree!!!
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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we are travelling this year so no tree for us...but when we have one its real. always real! i dont care if its a mess i dont care if it dries out..i loooooooooooooove a real tree. i love having a big giant plant in my living room!! :)
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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I do know to get the tree to last longer if you have a tree farm near you we used to get ours cut at the earliest 2 weeks before Christmas put it in the tree stand outside and keep it watered I know my Grampa used to use a mix of sugar water with it and seemed to keep the needles from dropping. We had a wood stove next to ours so it was pretty dry there and the needles lasted through the new year never really had much of an issue cause it was fresh cut by us we never bought one that was already pre cut I think that is were a lot of the issues come from.
And pine scent in a can just don't do it for me
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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I love the smell and look of a real tree. And to keep it fresh longer, add 7-Up to the water. I know it sounds crazy but it works, no idea why. But it must be 7-Up, Sprite does not work. Diet 7-Up doesn't work either.
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Rank: Constant Gardener
Joined: 9/30/2009
Posts: 9,516
Location: Cakeland, United States
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 Wanna smell pine? Lysol works great for that.
 The best thing you can do for your fellow,
next to rousing his conscience, is - not to give him things
to think about, but to wake things up that are in him...
to make him think things for himself - George MacDonald
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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WellMadeMale wrote:Wanna smell pine? Lysol works great for that. 
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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Real for us too. We use sugar in water as well. Then we add ice cubes. Works great. Never heard of 7-up but I'm wondering if the new "all natural" 7-up will change the outcome. I don't like the taste of it and have not bought any since the first one at the change. Wonder if the 7-up will keep the cats out of it?
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Rank: Her Royal Spriteness
Joined: 6/18/2010
Posts: 8,408
Location: Oz, United States
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i love christmas. i have the fondest memories of it. when i was growing up we go cut our own trees and haul it home and decorate it as a family - my dad used to lift me up to so i could reach the top branches and put ornaments on them. the first time i kissed my girlfiriend was on christmas eve, another wonderful memory. there have been few times when i haven't found a way to put up a trees in my home, even if it was a teeny little charlie brown tree and i was living in squallor. i love the smell of them, and i love that they are not perfect, cause really, there is beauty in imperfection - some are crooked and some have big spaces on one side and each one is unique. my favorite tradition has become the day that we go out and pick a tree together and put it up and decorate it - every year we each buy a single new hall mark ornement and those go no first... after that, well, each ornement has a story, reminds me a christmas past, reminds me of someone gone or far away or just a few steps away. so yeah, real. i don't care if it's extra work, it's worth it. i think that it says alot about our culture that it's all about what is quick and easy and cost effective... fast food, instant movies in our living rooms, cars, on line stores, gift cards as presents... yes, i fall prey to much of this as well, but some things, you should take your time doing - it's not about the and result, but about getting there. no matter how my tree looks at the end of the day, making it look like that is what is important. for me, it's an all day event and just as important as opening presents on xmas morn. 
 Bitches in the Basement on Amazon by our own Dancing Doll
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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sprite wrote:i love christmas. i have the fondest memories of it. when i was growing up we go cut our own trees and haul it home and decorate it as a family - my dad used to lift me up to so i could reach the top branches and put ornaments on them. the first time i kissed my girlfiriend was on christmas eve, another wonderful memory. there have been few times when i haven't found a way to put up a trees in my home, even if it was a teeny little charlie brown tree and i was living in squallor. i love the smell of them, and i love that they are not perfect, cause really, there is beauty in imperfection - some are crooked and some have big spaces on one side and each one is unique. my favorite tradition has become the day that we go out and pick a tree together and put it up and decorate it - every year we each buy a single new hall mark ornement and those go no first... after that, well, each ornement has a story, reminds me a christmas past, reminds me of someone gone or far away or just a few steps away. so yeah, real. i don't care if it's extra work, it's worth it. i think that it says alot about our culture that it's all about what is quick and easy and cost effective... fast food, instant movies in our living rooms, cars, on line stores, gift cards as presents... yes, i fall prey to much of this as well, but some things, you should take your time doing - it's not about the and result, but about getting there. no matter how my tree looks at the end of the day, making it look like that is what is important. for me, it's an all day event and just as important as opening presents on xmas morn. That was sweet Sprite and well said.
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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For those interested...Yankee Candle makes a "Christmas Wreath" scent that smells just like a tree. I hang the car jar air fresheners on my tree....the lights heat it up and it smells wonderful. I've even had people comment..."Oh I"m so jealous...you have a real tree and it smells so good!" Hee hee
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 9/26/2010
Posts: 605
Location: Toronto, Canada
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sprite wrote:i love christmas. i have the fondest memories of it. when i was growing up we go cut our own trees and haul it home and decorate it as a family - my dad used to lift me up to so i could reach the top branches and put ornaments on them. the first time i kissed my girlfiriend was on christmas eve, another wonderful memory. there have been few times when i haven't found a way to put up a trees in my home, even if it was a teeny little charlie brown tree and i was living in squallor. i love the smell of them, and i love that they are not perfect, cause really, there is beauty in imperfection - some are crooked and some have big spaces on one side and each one is unique. my favorite tradition has become the day that we go out and pick a tree together and put it up and decorate it - every year we each buy a single new hall mark ornement and those go no first... after that, well, each ornement has a story, reminds me a christmas past, reminds me of someone gone or far away or just a few steps away. so yeah, real. i don't care if it's extra work, it's worth it. i think that it says alot about our culture that it's all about what is quick and easy and cost effective... fast food, instant movies in our living rooms, cars, on line stores, gift cards as presents... yes, i fall prey to much of this as well, but some things, you should take your time doing - it's not about the and result, but about getting there. no matter how my tree looks at the end of the day, making it look like that is what is important. for me, it's an all day event and just as important as opening presents on xmas morn. Awwwww! Now i just want to spend the holidays at your place! I'll make you real hot chocolate  !
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 10/17/2010
Posts: 94
Location: Shelbyville
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Real ALWAYS - the mess may be an inconvience but it can be lessened, I like buying a live tree, keeping the root bulb wet, then planting it after chrsitmas, that was it is always a memory.
God gave men both a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time - Robin Williams.
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Rank: Alpha Blonde
Joined: 2/17/2010
Posts: 4,372
Location: In your dirty fantasies
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Rank: Matriarch
Joined: 12/6/2006
Posts: 22,416
Location: Sydney, Australia
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I bought a native "bottle brush" tree last year, and when finished with it, planted it in the garden.
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Rank: Rookie Scribe
Joined: 11/6/2010
Posts: 4
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As long as I can still motorboat I don't care. Wait, I stopped reading after the headline. What are we talking about.
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Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
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I don't think I will ever again, do another Christmas tree, I no longer Celebrate Christmas, for personal reasons, but if I were ever to, it would have to be a fake, because I'm allergic to pine.
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 11/21/2008
Posts: 1,238
Location: fluttering about
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Always a real tree here as well. We've been real treeing it since we had our first of four kids. They love going and helping to pick it out, and it's always a great time decorating it all together. The couple of years before the kiddos came along, while it was still just us, we had a fake little ole thing lol, but hey...it's the togetherness and the spirit of this time of the year that counts really, whether it's a real one or a fake one...or even not one at all :).
When I was little I remember my dad and myself going and picking out a real tree for a few years, until I turned about 11 or 12 yrs old. Mom decided she was 'tired' of the mess and fuss it caused each year and went out and got a fake one to put up for the rest of the Christmas' after. It was a very nice large and full fake one...but I truly missed the fun and togetherness of going out with my dad picking one out every year and coming home then setting it up and all of us decorating it together. And missed that wonderful aroma as well.
Anyway, so yes, definitely real! And there are some good tips in here as far as keeping it fresher longer and lessening the needle dropping. Never heard of the 7-up thing either.
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