Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Sunday, December 5. 2021

Life in America


Would you ever stoop to using a pre-lit fake Christmas tree?  I always felt that it was a sort of blasphemy, but those decorated trees are pagan anyway. Balsam Hill has the best. Very cheerful, if you want your house to look like a bank lobby.


But where do you store the darn thing? They are not cheap.

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 16:25 | Comments (18) | Trackbacks (0)

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I've always strongly preferred real trees, but when living in other countries, on assignment - well a fake tree can be packed, and there aren't too many fir trees in Africa or the Caribbean. Now that I'm retired it's a real tree or nothing.
#1 Aggie on 2021-12-05 17:01 (Reply)
[i]But where do you store the darn thing? They are not cheap.[/]


They come apart and fit back into their original box and go into the attic or closet with the rest of Christmas. Those retail prices are sort of like new car sticker prices ... the companies always have half price sales, so the ones at the link are all reduced. We bought a new one this year at Hobby Lobby at 50% off.

The one we had before that was from Roman, and lasted 15 years. The lights lasted about 8 years, and I put new lights on it after that. I think we paid $125 plus tax back then

They seem expensive, but prorated over 15 years, that's about $12 or so a year.
#2 Tina on 2021-12-05 18:01 (Reply)
Back 35 years ago, a friend told me her father, who was a very early adopter of XmasTree-in-a-box, ultimately got tired of assembling & decorating a plastic tree. Instead, he began hauling out, and decorating the box.
Merry Christmas!
#3 Anon on 2021-12-05 18:55 (Reply)
Real trees through the Boy Scouts got too expensive. This one packs in a storage tub and has already paid for itself. Don't have to water it either.
#4 Martin on 2021-12-05 20:06 (Reply)
Wife is in charge of holiday decorations, because IDGAF.

She wanted a pre-lit tree, so she got one.

At the end of the Christmas Season she tears it down, puts it in the box and puts it out in the garage.
#5 William O. B'Livion on 2021-12-05 20:10 (Reply)
I'm with you 100% William, but find myself in different circumstances with regard to holiday setup and teardown. Your wife... does she have any sisters by any chance?
#5.1 Hairless Joe on 2021-12-06 09:17 (Reply)
With a fake tree you never have to sweep up dropped needles! And cats seem less interested in the fakes, I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s obvious from the smell that there’s no potential prey hiding in the tree.

Merry Christmas, everyone!
#6 Princess Cutekitten on 2021-12-05 21:20 (Reply)
About 20 years ago, my wife opined that she wanted a tree that would display her collection of glass ornaments to their best advantage. I chewed on that thought for a while, and acted on it when visiting my parents in California. I shanghaied my dad into the project, and we cut down a large manzanita bush. Then we stripped all the leaves and dead twigs, and cut it into sections in a way that allowed the bush to be reassembled. Built a crate and shipped it home. It's been our Christmas tree ever since. (And the ornaments are stored in the crate,) After Epiphany, it get disassembled and hung from the ceiling of my workshop with bungee cords (thank goodness for a high ceiling).
#7 Michael Anderson (Link) on 2021-12-05 21:21 (Reply)
Was a real tree advocate for years (I'm in my 70's) but the missus decided it was too much trouble to a) cut our own, or b) buy one at the lot. The last straw was when the tree fell over twice in the same week. So I finally broke down under pressure and bought a fake--that lasted a few years and I complained every year. Then about 6 or 8 years ago we bought a Balsam Hill model and yes they are expensive and no they don't exactly fit in the original box. But they seem to be worth it and the grandkids love them. My storage solution was to rent a storage unit less than a mile from my house and store all the Christmas and New Year's and Valentine's Day and Easter and Memorial Day and 4th of July and Labor Day and Halloween and Fall decorations there. $85 per month and well worth it. Saved my garage space for my toys.
#8 rocdoctom on 2021-12-05 22:08 (Reply)
I was dead against fake trees until I developed an allergy against pine needles.
No fun handling a real Christmas tree if you end up with hundreds of itching sores on your hands and arms that last right through Christmas and the new year.

So fake tree it is.
#9 JTW on 2021-12-05 23:21 (Reply)
I put up two trees.

One is the real deal which has to be hauled home from the Christmas tree lot, put in the tree stand (often a 2-person job if we want it to be standing straight and not fall over), water every day, vacuum up the fallen pine needles, remember to remove ALL ornaments before putting out to the curb. It goes up in the living room where it is on display for all to enjoy. And, yes, it is worth it as I like the real deal and it gives off a very nice pine-forest aroma.

The other is a 4-foot wire branches/plastic needles one that I just pull out of the original box, straighten out the branches, swirl a string of lights around, hang a few ornaments on and it goes on a table in the front window. It looks nice from the street; and when done I remove the ornament and lights and it slips right back into the original box. I paid about 3 bucks for it 35 or so years ago at an after Christmas sale (at Montgomery Ward BTW); I'd say I got my money's worth out of it.

They are both nice as they serve different purposes.
#10 charles on 2021-12-06 00:13 (Reply)
We switched from real trees to fake trees during our nine years in Colorado, mostly because we lived at 6200' and had a wood-burning stove in the great room that was constantly going through the winter months. The real trees dried out way too quickly and became fire hazards.

For the past few years, we have used the same pre-lit artificial tree. It comes apart into three pieces and stores very easily in a relatively small space under stairs. All the light wiring is done directly through the center pole, so it takes me all of about 2 minutes to assemble it, plug it in, and have it lit.

Zero regrets.
#11 Bruce F Webster (Link) on 2021-12-06 00:25 (Reply)
Here in Israel the Christian minority - including some of the Soviet emigres - have no other choice but fake trees. Israel has battled desertification since before its founding with tree planting programs, and harvesting trees of that size is still both impractical and taboo. I am also not sure that the "Tannenbaum" is traditional for Christians in this region.

What the heck - all our lawns are synthetic too.

I guess the parallel choice for Jews is whether to use an electric lamp for Chanuka, or actual flames with candles/oil. The new LED candles are very convincing but do not satisfy Jewish law, so they are used more in lobbies and public spaces.
#12 Ben David on 2021-12-06 06:35 (Reply)
We get real trees. I feel like once I get an artificial tree a part of me has given up on some things. There are always other people picking out real trees when I get one, so I know I'm not the only one. But I personally don't know anyone who doesn't use a fake tree.

I like leaving it undecorated for a while before the Christmas decor comes out. I think of it as an Advent tree.
#13 jack walter on 2021-12-06 07:36 (Reply)
Two years into retirement we switched to artificial trees. I got tired of wrestling with real ones and they became too expensive. We bought a Balsam-Hill after Christmas when the price dropped. The lights are all white so we add our own strings of colored lights. (Yes, I know they can be purchased with colored lights). We store the tree in the garage in the bag it came in. If we were still young with children we'd probably still have a real tree, but since we're not the artificial tree is fine.
#14 Bob Shannon on 2021-12-06 07:45 (Reply)
Several years ago, when the grandchildren started having Christmas for their own babies, Mr. H bought a three-foot fiber-optic tree. I hated the thing and never decorated it when I brought it ought for the season. When we moved out of the house, I was happy to put it in the dumpster, and we have not had a tree since. Now that we are settled in what will likely be our last home, I'm missing having a Christmas tree but I see the impracticalities of a real one. Not sure what to do yet, and not sure we'll even make the deadline.
#15 RebeccaH on 2021-12-06 12:03 (Reply)
Splurge!
#15.1 Don (Link) on 2021-12-06 16:20 (Reply)
I'd rather have a big real tree, but cats.

Wife got a little 3 foot lighted tree at the Wal-Mart for about $8.

It's better than nothing I guess. White lights, no ornaments.

When the youngest cat gets a couple years older I hope to go back to a real tree and hang 1960s C-7 (??) lights on it. The novelty has long worn off the LED string. They are too dim unless you happen to catch the light coming out the end of them, and that is too bright.

Anyway, when the season is over just haul the little tree to the basement and throw a trash bag over it.

Did I mention it is not as good as a real tree?
#16 feeblemind on 2021-12-06 13:15 (Reply)

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