Christmas Tree - real or artificial

[mistyoptic]

We bought a real one this morning from the greengrocers. £30 delivered, for a 7’ tree (Nordman fir), instead of the £70 we paid the Forestry Commission last year. There will be an artificial one in the conservatory too.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Thinking about real trees has reminded me of when I was a kid before we had mains electricity in the house, and we used to have a tree with little candles on clips attached to the branches. It couldn't be left unattended because of the real risk of catching fire. Once came close but my father just caught it in time.

 

[TLW1]

Real tree, arranged to borrow my mates pick up so I can collect on Friday. Think it will be a toy for the cats, the issue being the step ladder normally doesn’t reach the top

 

[fossyant]

This was four foot in 2020

 

[Reynard]

Thinking about real trees has reminded me of when I was a kid before we had mains electricity in the house, and we used to have a tree with little candles on clips attached to the branches. It couldn't be left unattended because of the real risk of catching fire. Once came close but my father just caught it in time.

We always had candles in those little clips on the tree when I was many years younger. But because our tree was always a fake one, the candles were never lit, we had fairy lights.

I still have the candles - in the original boxes. And the clips.

Mind you, candles of any stripe are useful out here in the boonies for when the leccy goes out.

 

[Reynard]

This was four foot in 2020
View attachment 794379

They don't half grow like bloody weeds, don't they! Looks fabby with those lights on, mind...

 

[fossyant]

They don't half grow like bloody weeds, don't they! Looks fabby with those lights on, mind...

Its getting the top snipped after christmas. Can snip this years growth i believe when dormant. Want to keep it this height.

 

[tom73]

Its getting the top snipped after christmas. Can snip this years growth i believe when dormant. Want to keep it this height.

You need to take the leader out , the trick will be to do it in a way that it won't look like tree with a flat top. It will make it start to bush out a bit so a bit of selective light pruning will be needed to keep its shape.

 

[Alex321]

We used to use a real, rooted, tree. Put it in a pot in the ground outside after Christmas, bring it in again the next year. Eventually, it grew too big for any of the post we had (and our ceilings), so we just left it planted outside.

We now use artificial trees, as we don't really have room to keep one planted outside in the house we're in now.

 

[Alex321]

Our decs never get put up before December, if it were up to me, and I have managed it in the past prior to being a parent, we've literally put them up the weekend before Christmas - I much prefer it to be a shorter time for it to be up as for me that makes it more special, rather than getting used to it for weeks and weeks.

Our younger daughter was born on 12th December.

While she lived at home, we always put up the decorations on her birthday, though as she is in her 40's now, that was quite some time ago. I got them down from the attic on Monday, though that was mostly to see what Christmas cards we had left, they will be put up at some point in the next week or two.

 

[TLW1]

Maybe shouldn’t have gone on my own