I was wondering this as buying real ones yearly get sometimes pretty pricey
We have a cat tree we use. So artificial.
that is so adorable, ive been seeing that all over social media would you say its worth the money?
I got it last year for $90. It was up for ~2 months. Cats loved it. Got it back out a couple weeks ago, it is not used as much this year as last, but it does still get used.
I would totally say it was worth it.
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.
Name checks out
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!
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.
Never heard of this. Probably because the nearest are hours away.
Nope, centrally located because the whole point of the program is sustainably harvested trees accessible to civilians.
You can check the linked locations above.
When I used the site it said the closest locations are national forests but none of the ones close to me.
I looked at the full list and there are zero locations in my state. Tons in the western US so I assume that’s where you live.
Nope, but I understand your assumptions.
The US has conifers everywhere, and the link above is for a single collective of federally managed public lands, but does not include every other state-run and private organization that sells Christmas tree permits across the US.
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.
Interesting. My state does offer this. Closest is still about an hour out; not much further than I go now.
Made a note to look into this next holiday season. Thanks!
Awesome, you got it!
I’ve also added the state programs information to my original comment, so I’m glad you brought it up.
I was kind of blown away when i first found about this and got into a long talk with a ranger who explained it all to me, so I certainly understand your skepticism.
Up until that point, I literally knew nobody who cut down their own Christmas trees, and now a few of my friends also get their own trees every year.
6 foot trees have fairly thin trunks, so all you need is any trail saw, I’ve even used a hatchet, and you’ll harvest the tree in a manner of minutes.
I haven’t had or put up a Christmas tree since I was a child. I don’t see the point. I don’t do any seasonal decorations. Time moves so fast that it’s like a week later I’m taking down a bunch of shit I paid money for and can barely use.
I get where you are coming from, but I find holiday decorations to be one of the highlights of an otherwise crummy season.
Winter is so depressing. It is cold and dark all the time. It is fun to come home to a bunch of silly lights everywhere. I leave mine up for a few weeks past Christmas. If you ask me, the tree should stay up until the first day of spring.
Yeah, fun sucks
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.
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.
TIL my family is lunatics.
We do have a fire pit and it’s fire department approved distances from structures.
A properly watered tree is actually not very flammable.
Neither
Doesn’t feel like Christmas without the smell of a real tree. I go out back and cut a small one.
Real.
Cut it down at a tree farm that has a Santa workshop.
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.
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.
we’ve used artificial for at least the last 9 years now. Less cleanup, less expensive and easy to setup
Number one cause of house fires around Christmas time, dry trees in homes. We put up the same artificial tree every year.
Aluminum pole. No tinsel. It’s distracting.
