Is Your Christmas Tree...

[Dib's]

Real or Fake?



If it's real do you head out to the tree farm or the hardware store to pick one out? Is it a Balsam, or a Scotch Pine, or a Frasier, or.......

If it's a Out of the Box Tree tell us about that too.

Now for the most important question. Ready?
Flocked or Flock No!

If you have a funny Christmas Tree Story please share it with us &
Merry Christmas!

[Iron Bloomers]

[Iron Bloomers]

it's out of a box & Flock no...it's not flocked!

funny or not here it is...when I was a kid we always went to Great-Grandma's for Christmas day....she had a tiny...house..really tiny, so the tree had only one spot to go...in the corner & it had to fit just so. Uncle Wilton being the oldest had to hunt the perfect tree. This one year he brought home the tree & it failed to suit Great Gram...so off he went to find the 'right' tree...a second one came home...right height but one side was a bit bare & it stuck out too far in her tiny living room. It wouldn't do for this Lady of barely 4ft 8in...she wanted perfection. Uncle took off again & returned hours later with tree #3....this one was perfect in height but way to slender to suit the little grey haired lady...confused & befuddled & with trees piling up in the back yard, the dear man set to work cutting branches off the rejected trees & drilling holes in the trunk of the height perfect tree. One by one he inserted the branches into the trunk, making one side almost flat to fit the corner. When set in the tree stand Gram was thrilled & the decorating began.
Can you imaging taking 3 trees to make one just right tree? Great Gram & all of her children are long since passed but the memories of Christmas Day & 5 generations squished into her tiny house linger on.

Merry Christmas Gang & Happy New Year to All♥

[Stella Mae]

We used to always have real trees, but finally got to where we enjoyed a fake tree as much or more since we could put it up the day after Thanksgiving and leave it until Epiphany. Now, I have a wee little 3' pre-lit tree of white lights, and it's sitting on the counter between the den and kitchen. I saw an angel tree in a beauty shop at least 35 years ago, and I've always wanted one just like it. So now I'm gradually getting crystal icicles and snowflakes for my little tree, and I have a tiny angel that sits on top. It looks beautiful.

Oh... and no, not flocked!

[Olive*]

Depending on our mood, our tree is sometimes real and sometimes out of the box. No flocking on those trees! We do have a small tree that I put on a small table in the foyer. It is pre-flocked....with lights.

[tasb]

Fake, not flocked.

[Sage]

Many many years since we have a real tree; at this stage of our lives; it is a cute table top tree that i got at Micheal's.
Rita

[Recipe Reader]

It's fake, wired with white lights, no flocking - and it's a skinny tree, fits perfectly, easy to decorate! We love it!

I grew up with a fake tree. However one year, my parents got a real tree, and cut it up after Christmas for firewood. Unfortunately, Dad forgot to open the flue in the fireplace, whole house filled with smoke, the fire department came to blow it all out. That's very memorable!

[**Tinkerbell**]

It's not funny Ha-Ha, but it is kind of a funny story about how we never realize how right our parents are until we've gone out on our own.

At age 2 I was diagnosed with severe asthma; allergic to any animal except reptiles, and just about all plants, flowers, trees, pollens, dust, etc. So, my parents were advised on where to relocate, how to build a house with an asthma-friendly environment, and to only use artificial Christmas trees.

I grew up totally envious of my friends who had beautiful traditions. A family outing into the mountains, picking out their "perfect" trees, and having the wonderful fresh pine smell fill their homes.

I vowed to get me a real tree when I moved out!

The first year of marriage we bought one from a street corner, but the next year our son was born and I knew I had to start the tradition right away. So, we hiked through the mountains to find "The One".
It was muddy, rainy (WA state... duh!), cold and totally miserable in high-heeled boots carrying a baby.
Eventually I could care less what the tree looked like and just said, "Chop down the next one you see!"

The next few years I continued to insist on making the real tree work for me. However, I have a seriously black thumb when it comes to growing anything and that extended to watering the Christmas tree. By the time Christmas was over there were a bazillion pine needles hidden in my carpet. I would spend hours on my knees pulling them out before I let anyone walk through the living room and the way that led to the front door. I never seemed to be able to vacuum them all up, and I would periodically see one or step on one over the next few months. Tree stands were always a fiasco too. It was all such a hassle and these "free" trees were actually getting expensive!
Not to mention that since I was still allergic to the trees, I ended up in the emergency room with an asthma attack 4 out of the first 6 Christmases.

About 5 years later I gave up the idea that I was going to recreate a family tradition that I had envied all my early years. As it turns out, my mother's tradition of staying home, pulling a box up from the garage, sorting color-coded tree branches, and then decorating, all while staying warm and dry, was exactly what I prefer. I mean, so what if my tree smells like a pine tree shaped air freshener... okay, it doesn't. I was allergic to that genius idea too.

Over the years we've had 3 artificial trees. The biggest and oldest is green with individual color-coded branches, just like I remember from my childhood.
The second was green, smaller and pre-lit. We bought it because our big tree hadn't been shipped down yet when we moved to another state to build our house. Several years later we had a friend that needed a tree for her kids after getting divorced. We gave it to her.
A few years ago we bought another pre-lit one, in white. That's what we put up again this year.

This is DD on the left with her BFF on the right. They decorated the tree mostly by themselves, so please only focus on the lower half of it.

[Iron Bloomers]

Great story Tink...sorry about the emergency room trips.
Pretty Girls & love the tree...is that a tea cup I spy mid way up?

[**Tinkerbell**]

Iron Bloomers wrote:
Great story Tink...sorry about the emergency room trips.
Pretty Girls & love the tree...is that a tea cup I spy mid way up?

Thank you, IB.

And yes, as a matter of fact, that IS a teacup ornament. I can barely see it & I know it's there! You must've eaten all those carrots when you were a kid. LOL

It's a pretty cool one though. It's quite heavy, so it doesn't hang on the tree like other ornaments. It has an alligator clip attached to the bottom of it, and I clip it on above the branch. It's one of my favorites, as I used to be a big teapot collector.

[*Pixie*]

I had to google what flocked meant. Obviously, I've never had a flocked tree...

Up until last year I've always had a real tree. Last year we bought an artifical one. The year before we (physically) struggled a lot with a real tree (and had it fall a few times) . My wrists are just not up to it.

I love real trees but the fake one is acceptable and doesn't dump a pile of needles on my floor.

[Iron Bloomers]

**Tinkerbell** wrote:

Iron Bloomers wrote:
Great story Tink...sorry about the emergency room trips.
Pretty Girls & love the tree...is that a tea cup I spy mid way up?

Thank you, IB.

And yes, as a matter of fact, that IS a teacup ornament. I can barely see it & I know it's there! You must've eaten all those carrots when you were a kid. LOL

It's a pretty cool one though. It's quite heavy, so it doesn't hang on the tree like other ornaments. It has an alligator clip attached to the bottom of it, and I clip it on above the branch. It's one of my favorites, as I used to be a big teapot collector.

Tink, it's beautiful...I love it. I'll have to force myself to go to Hobby Lobby & see if I can find something similar for my tree....oh the things I must do
About the carrots..we ate what was put on our plates..no question about it..fortunately I like carrots
Now to plan my trip to hobby lobby.....

[Sage]

**Tinkerbell** wrote:
It's not funny Ha-Ha, but it is kind of a funny story about how we never realize how right our parents are until we've gone out on our own.

At age 2 I was diagnosed with severe asthma; allergic to any animal except reptiles, and just about all plants, flowers, trees, pollens, dust, etc. So, my parents were advised on where to relocate, how to build a house with an asthma-friendly environment, and to only use artificial Christmas trees.

I grew up totally envious of my friends who had beautiful traditions. A family outing into the mountains, picking out their "perfect" trees, and having the wonderful fresh pine smell fill their homes.

I vowed to get me a real tree when I moved out!

The first year of marriage we bought one from a street corner, but the next year our son was born and I knew I had to start the tradition right away. So, we hiked through the mountains to find "The One".
It was muddy, rainy (WA state... duh!), cold and totally miserable in high-heeled boots carrying a baby.
Eventually I could care less what the tree looked like and just said, "Chop down the next one you see!"

The next few years I continued to insist on making the real tree work for me. However, I have a seriously black thumb when it comes to growing anything and that extended to watering the Christmas tree. By the time Christmas was over there were a bazillion pine needles hidden in my carpet. I would spend hours on my knees pulling them out before I let anyone walk through the living room and the way that led to the front door. I never seemed to be able to vacuum them all up, and I would periodically see one or step on one over the next few months. Tree stands were always a fiasco too. It was all such a hassle and these "free" trees were actually getting expensive!
Not to mention that since I was still allergic to the trees, I ended up in the emergency room with an asthma attack 4 out of the first 6 Christmases.

About 5 years later I gave up the idea that I was going to recreate a family tradition that I had envied all my early years. As it turns out, my mother's tradition of staying home, pulling a box up from the garage, sorting color-coded tree branches, and then decorating, all while staying warm and dry, was exactly what I prefer. I mean, so what if my tree smells like a pine tree shaped air freshener... okay, it doesn't. I was allergic to that genius idea too.

Over the years we've had 3 artificial trees. The biggest and oldest is green with individual color-coded branches, just like I remember from my childhood.
The second was green, smaller and pre-lit. We bought it because our big tree hadn't been shipped down yet when we moved to another state to build our house. Several years later we had a friend that needed a tree for her kids after getting divorced. We gave it to her.
A few years ago we bought another pre-lit one, in white. That's what we put up again this year.

This is DD on the left with her BFF on the right. They decorated the tree mostly by themselves, so please only focus on the lower half of it.

Those girls spell Christmas; adorable.

[**Tinkerbell**]

Iron Bloomers wrote:

Now to plan my trip to hobby lobby.....

Oh, but if you find one let me know. I would actually like some others to match it.