After years of real trees, we are finally making the move to an artificial tree. My girl's vocal chords and her breathing ability just can't handle a real tree any more. This has been something we considered years ago, but the kids were so traumatized by the idea you would have thought we had told them we were giving them up for adoption.
Now, however, we seem to be in a bind because it is a bit late to be getting one, plus local availability seems to be sparser this year due to the economy and retailers not wanting to risk being stuck with leftover inventory. And what's out there is, frankly, ugly and cheap-looking. We don't want to pay big bucks, but we want to pay enough to get a nice-looking, quality tree. We're not opposed to looking online, but it's hard to tell what you're getting. So I thought I'd toss out the question to my blog friends!
Sooo, what say you? Real or artificial at your house? If artificial, where did you get yours? Is there a brand or type you recommend? Feel free to include a link!
I grew up with a real tree and we had real trees for the first 22 years of our married life. We 'bit the bullet' and bought a prelit 9 ft tree at Sam's 3 years ago and LOVE it! Putting the lights on the tree was a fight every year. We bought the artificial tree so on the years we go back to the midwest, we won't have to take the tree down before we go or come home to a stick with needles on the ground!
ReplyDeleteWe also have an 8 ft pre-lit artificial tree and it solves the problem of our cats trying to crawl way up inside and knocking the ornaments off. In fact, we store it under the basement stairs in one piece, under a blanket. We don't even have to shape the branches, just carry it up the stairs, plug it in and add the decorations. We will never go back to a real tree.
ReplyDeleteI love the convenience of a pre-lit tree ... no shopping for a tree, no circling the tree adding lights, etc. But there's just something about a real tree ... even though we've got an empty nest and don't even host Christmas here, DH and I still insist on a real tree.
ReplyDeleteHobby Lobby has all of their trees on half price. They might not be what you want. Most of them are pre lit. I had to buy one of the Alpine trees from there a couple of years ago, because of moving the office home and changing and moving furniture all around. Only spot left was in the kitchen. No kids at home, though grandchildren come over. I like the tree, my husband does not, but had to compromise because of space. Love not having to string and unstring the lights. Would love to leave the decorations on, through a sheet over it and stick in a closet till next year. No space. Blessings and good luck on compromising and everyone being satisfied
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