I was wondering this as buying real ones yearly get sometimes pretty pricey
When I can, I get a real tree. After Christmas, I trim all the leaves and branches off the trunk and put those in the municipal compost bin. I then put the trunk in storage and let it dry out for a year or two. Once dry, I’ll carve them into things like walking sticks, wizard staffs, etc.
That’s fucking rad
Thanks! Here’s an example. That’s me on the left, my husband on the right.
I made both that walking stick and wizard staff from old Christmas trees. And a close up view of the staff:
Sickkkk. How long do they take to make?
The walking stick was an afternoon project. Just carve, sand, and stain. The staff was a lot harder, specifically the tines that wind around the crystal. I made the staff off and on for several months. I built the tines up by cutting out thin strips of wood. Then I glued them together, laminating the tines up one layer at a time. Once they’re built up, I carved them into a smooth shape and filled in cracks in the epoxy. The amethyst is affixed into the socket I carved with epoxy as well.
I could have made the staff faster if I was really pushing it out. But just the time to glue it up would still require about 2 week to make.
Artisanal! I love it!
Name checks out
Never bothered with putting a tree up, but I’ve always kinda wanted to steal this idea:
I gotta say…
This was a triumph.
I’m making a note here: “huge success”
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Real f’sure.
A lot of states sell Christmas tree permits every year, so for 5-10 bucks plus gas I can harvest my own tree(s) sustainably.
It’s rad.
If you can’t find yourself in any of the states above, it’s likely you live in a state with state-run Christmas tree programs. Texas, Oklahoma, any state not in the half of the US listed above will have other state resources for Christmas tree permits and many private tree farms, which are maybe 10 dollars more but offer the same service:
Buy a permit, drive there, choose a tree, chop it down, take it home.
Haven’t done this, but I’ve known people who do. Beats the tree lots.
Thats what we do! 30-45 minute drive and we can get noble firs.
Heck yea! A satisfying quest all around.
Why would i want a real tree? They’re messy and EXTREMELY FLAMABLE
Maybe some enjoy flammable? My lunatic ex took an old Christmas tree out to the backyard and set fire to it because he wanted to see how fast they burn. He nearly did burn down the house, that was a BIG fire, very tall fire. But if you have a big enough space, or broke it down to burn more slowly and reasonably? Fuel.
A properly watered tree is actually not very flammable.
Real, but I keep it in a pot and it goes outside the rest of the year. It’s about 3.5’ tall at the moment and gets a little bigger each year. I’ve had it for 4 years now
That sounds excellent… i might pitch that to my wife for next year.
we’ve used artificial for at least the last 9 years now. Less cleanup, less expensive and easy to setup
Aluminum pole. No tinsel. It’s distracting.
Doesn’t feel like Christmas without the smell of a real tree. I go out back and cut a small one.
I used to go real, but lack of proper ones made me go artificial instead.
I grew up on the countryside where part of holiday tradition involved grabbing a saw and finding a proper tree in one of the many woods around the property. Now that I live more urban I have to rely on whatever is on the market. And the quality of the market is awful, so I might as well have something that at least looks good.
I bought an artificial one second-hand which felt like the most sustainable option - not cutting a tree down every year and not paying for virgin plastic either. Charity shops here are usually filled with pretty nice ones since a lot of people seem to replace their plastic trees far more frequently than they should.
Neither
Number one cause of house fires around Christmas time, dry trees in homes. We put up the same artificial tree every year.
We have large floofy ragdoll cats, 14lb missiles of Christmas tree doom.
Thus, we have neither.
Our cats are tree-obsessed. This year we are doing an experiment. I spent about $15 at Goodwill on a fake 4’ lit tree, a pressboard “live laugh love” framed thing and a little tin bucket.
Spread the branches to either side, flattening the tree on one half, paint over the vapid sayings on the board, and wire the tree to the front, hiding the light plugs & extension cord in the little bucket.
So far so good.
Real every time. I feel bad for the poor tree but nothing beats the smell of a fresh Christmas tree in December.
Frugal family, never had a tree. I didn’t care either. I just wished we did something fun as a family. I see normal families on tv and I feel jealous. My parents aren’t like bad, but they kinda aren’t good either. None of the holidays were really memorable in particular. I had “okay” moments, but nothing really “wholesome” that i could share.
Like any useful gifts or really just family time to some new place is all I want, fuck trees, I personally don’t care, it doesn’t really do anything.
I mean colorful lighting would look cool, but trees? Meh.
(I’m not born in a western country for context)
