Is is too soon to talk about Christmas trees?

I always get a real one, perhaps i’m just a traditonalist or maybe its nostalgia but its one of my favorite christmas rituals, love the smell of freshly(ish) felled fir.

So i’m collecting my 8 year old daugher from a dance class at the end of last week, and we spotted the first tree in someones house (far too early!)

Her: Daddy, are we getting a tree this year?
me: you bet!
her: will it be a real one?
me: errr yea?
her: will it be cut down just for christmas?
me: errr yea…
her: What happens to it after christmas?
me: I take it to the tip.
her: Isn’t that terribly wasteful?
me: umm

So real trees could be out this year. Can you get decent fake ones these days, if so where?

I problaby spent the best part of £100 on a tree last year so if i offset it against the next 3 years tree puchases i should be able to get somthing half decent.

Applogies in advance for the premature nature of this post but i need to factor in the research phase and delivery times.

Is it too soon. . . ? Yes.

Wait until December.

I problaby spent the best part of £100 on a tree last year

You are the King and I claim my free knighthood!

Seriously though…… WT Actual F do you get for £100?  I thought my posh local garden centre was expensive, but … holy crap!

My limit is £30 from the guy who grows his own half a mile from here and cuts them down the day before you buy them.
(actually not this year….. going to a bloke 1 mile away where you cut your own tree down!)

me: I take it to the tip.
her: Isn’t that terribly wasteful?
me: umm

I thought they got chipped for compost?  But yes, it kinda is hence why I don’t pay £100 for a tree.
And yes the artificial trees are apparently good now.

Lots of organisations (such as the Scouts) do a collection service (for a small fee) and get them recycled.

However, I season mine then use them for firewood.

but, but, but……… in my defence…..

All the families round my way seem to press the christmas button on the first w/e of dec.

I’m a Dec 23rd man myself, but its not about me anymore

If i am forced to purchase a green plastic abomonation i’d like to have in time to save myself the grief. That leaves me little over a week to locate and take delivery of said item.

We bought a fake one about 20 years because when my wife and I saw it in Wyevale GC we thought it was real. At the time we couldn’t really afford it but got it anyway. I can’t recall the exact price but it was over £100 in 2004. It’s still going strong (well it was last Christmas anyway)

her: Isn’t that terribly wasteful?

Tell her it’s all part of carbon capture.

The tree grows, captures carbon, then gets chipped after use putting nutrients back into the earth.

Now I’m confused. Surely putting up the Christmas tree just involves opening the back door and manhandling the tree and pot into the house without damaging them or the house. Added bonus that this year’s tree is always bigger than last year’s.

Got to admit that our first tree did only last a few years, but still got the second one.

You are the King and I claim my free knighthood!

I couldn’t get a another tree for the drawing room last year due to cut backs.

Seriously though…… WT Actual F do you get for £100?  I thought my posh local garden centre was expensive, but … holy crap!

8 foot Nordman was £89 iirc -i did go to a swanky garden center/nursery to get it. last one i got from B&Q was bare before new year.

my house is not grand (its actually not even watertight) but the only place a tree can go has a vaulted ceiling. and i work under the premise that its go big or don’t bother (well when it comes to christmas trees anyway)

I’m such an amazing parent really lucky that my kids don’t really want too much for christmas so aside from the turkey and booze its my main christmas expense. If i had to be buying x-boxes or iphones i’d not be spending that on a tree for sure.

I bought a cheap plastic one when I was stuck away from family due to lockdown. It should see me out. It’s also been up since Saturday 🙂

Handily the local trail centre sells them. Ideal for the Christmas hype period when what you really need a quick trail ride hit. I will probably go for mid December.

Bought real ones for a good few years now, always took them a place that recycles them or cut it down for logs. Last year I bought a living one in a pot to cut down on waste, it died. This year I have bought a Balsam Hill fake tree, Mrs has wanted one for years. It should see us good for a long time.

This year I have bought a Balsam Hill fake tree, Mrs has wanted one for years. It should see us good for a long time.

**** me, it had better!  glad they have a blackfriday sale 🙂

We had a fake tree that had light bult into it, was great for years. Last year though we bought a real one that was in a pot. Its now in the garden waiting to be dug up and brought in for Christmas. It’ll then go outside again where it will be replanted and will wait patiently for Christmas 2025.

Her: Daddy, are we getting a tree this year?
me: you bet!
her: will it be a real one?
me: errr yea?
her: will it be cut down just for christmas?
me: errr yea…
her: What happens to it after christmas?
me: I take it to the tip.
her: Isn’t that terribly wasteful?
me: umm

Read her the Hans Christian Andersen story about the Christmas Tree.  That’ll soon put her off Christmas, and no mistake

http://hca.gilead.org.il/fir_tree.html

We had a fake tree that had light bult into it,

Those Balsam Hill trees linked above can have that – like that, as its my job to do the lights and it plays havoc with my mental idiosyncrasies – “That’s the 5th time you taken those lights back off the tree, can you not just throw them on and let the kids decorate it?”

no. it has to be just so.

🙂

I saw that Ikea are selling real trees, I was slightly disappointed they weren’t flat packed.

Smart kid.

no. it has to be just so.

?

Incorrect. It has to be filled with a childlike wander. Slapdash, wonkyness and alot if chocolate are the most important bit.

**** me, it had better!  glad they have a blackfriday sale

Yeah that was my thoughts too. We did have a John Lewis one bought in the sales many years ago, it lasted us about 15 years, we then donated it to my work. It was still going reasonably well until a few years ago. At full price and adjustment it would be about the same of not more than a Balsam at full price.

Incorrect. It has to be filled with a childlike wander. Slapdash, wonkyness and alot if chocolate are the most important bit.

with everything else i whole-heartedly agree. Our tree mostly looks like its been decorated by a rabid chimpanzee

But the lights no, thats my thing and they will be perfect, or i’ll die trying.

The town where my mum lives uses discarded Christmas trees to build up the beach which is now a wonderful sand dune where it used to be a complete wasteland. Which is lovely. (There is still plenty of beach for usual beach activities.)

My parents always got a “real” cut tree but since leaving home I’ve always used a live plant in a pot, a cycad when I was living in Japan, now a massive cheese plant which I just learnt is about same age as I am (55). It was in the house when we moved in and I assumed the previous owners had put it there (making it at most 30y) but I recently met a relative of the owner before who did the original conversion.

My grandparents had some sort of live pine in a pot as Christmas tree that lived outdoors most of the year, I know people say that outdoor evergreens don’t much like the change in climate from being taken in but it was fine for a couple of weeks in a coolish corner before the days of central heating. It’s still there come to think of it, my uncle lives in the house. Not sure if he still hauls it in every year or not. I think that’s probably a better option than actually planting out and digging up.

“Whatever real tree is half price about 3 days before”… but that’s a fairly high risk strategy TBH.

Real one from a local place, point at the one we want and the bloke cuts it down in front of us. Or is that the Turkey, I forget.

We get ours on the first weekend of December because

a) lower £ per day usage

b) I have no say in the matter

Real is just nicer though, smells nice, looks nice. Tend to get a smaller one nowadays to save money and space. I do slather it in 600 individually addressable LED lights so the closer together they are the better the patterns, so a small tree is good for that as well.

Taken away by the council the week after NY and composted which still seems better than a fake one? Am sure someone will be along to prove that a plastic one is better though.

Taken away by the council the week after NY and composted which still seems better than a fake one? Am sure someone will be along to prove that a plastic one is better though.

You’ll get arguments for both, the best way to be green is to not bother.

we usually get a birch branch that has broken off in a storm. It stands in the room, curving overhead and then decorated with silver pin cones, lights, tinsel etc and baubles. Ill be honest, it looks frickin awesome! A few homemade pressies underneath for ultimate smugness.

Cost no pounds.

I’m having a Christmas meal this Saturday 30th of November.

It will be my second Christmas meal, having had one last Thursday 21st of November as all the company attended a training event. We even hosted our own ceilidh, complete with Auld lang syne…..

*giggles at the outraged of November*

I always get a real one from Costco. £30 plus vat. Had them in today and I’m going back for it later in the week… They are always good quality.

“Whatever real tree is half price about 3 days before”… but that’s a fairly high risk strategy TBH.

these days round here (MidSussex) there’s nothing left after about the 2nd weekend of Dec. I was always a 20 December earliest person, but now we have to go early to get a tree, and others in the house think I’m a philistine so it goes up straight away. Not sure that I’m ready for plastic trees yet.

Cast my eye around on site visit last week, going back for one end of this week, just need to cram it in the back up pool car as I’m between pick-ups.

Fortunately my choice of Christmas tree species is planted as a self thinning part of the forest mix so won’t be missed. Lodgepole Pine if you’re interested, not prickly and holds on to its needles very well.

Kind of a dilemma these days.

Cut down a tree for vanities sake, and a couple of weeks use, then to be discarded, Or opt for the plastic variety and add to harming the planet.

Can someone explain to me WHY you don’t enjoy celebrating Christmas for as long as you possibly can?

I’ve got two Balsam hill trees – one we bought 5 years ago and it’s flawless the other we got in the January sales this year, both have been up since last weekend and will stay up until January. The longer they’re up for, the more you’re getting out of them.

My family have never done real trees – my parents’ fake tree lasted nearly 25 years!

Desperate plug…

Bike Chain Christmas Tree Decorations Cycling Bauble (set A) | eBay

Can someone explain to me WHY you don’t enjoy celebrating Christmas for as long as you possibly can?

Because someone nags to put the tree up from about November 10th, finally manages to get it up yesterday and will be bored of it by Boxing Day. No names necessary, (but I’m thinking of my my loved one here….)

we usually get a birch branch that has broken off in a storm

You’ve just given me a mission for my ride tonight. First, visit the vast new Bridge On The River Kwai which the council have decided is necessary to cross the 6cm deep stream on the trails, and then up to the birch woods further up the valley.

This year I have bought a Balsam Hill fake tree

Had one but lost it in the divorce.

Nice product, but the best thing about it was it had “sam hill” in the name.

Can someone explain to me WHY you don’t enjoy celebrating Christmas for as long as you possibly can?

STW. It’s the same attitudes and personality types on every thread about everything.

Christmas is ace! We have some fairy lights up all year round, but the kids have started putting up more. My lads room looks like the inside of a Barbie lighthouse.

Small (50cm) fake tree up in the kitchen and more lights up at the weekend. 8 footer up on weekend of 14th.

Bring it on.

We buy a small potted tree, then after Christmas plant it in the garden, most still don’t survive (as the root ball has been hacked up) but hang on for year or two. Managed to reuse a few for following years though.