live christmas trees (this one has the poll)

[Sequoia]

I just got a live christmas tree. Usually at my moms, it's a fake one tha tlooks real. But my dad uses live trees. I have thought about it before, but seeing my boyfriend wincing as the tree was cut made me think.

How many of you get live trees? How many don't? How many don't mind? How many HATE having the trees killed?

So answer the poll and post your view! hehe

((when I posted the other thread, the poll didn't show up >.<;;; ))

[Flaire-FireStar]

We don't cut ours anymore, we buy them from the grocery store.. But when we brought the tree in the house today, I nearly cried.. (Really!) I've been protesting that we get a fake tree for years (we had one when I was like 5, but then we got rid of it cuz it got old & I think the base got broken or something).... Anyway, as long as we keep getting real trees, I'll keep protesting that we get fake ones & thank the real ones. :)

[stormyray]

I get mine from a tree farm and cut it ourselves but not before circling around , asking , and thanking and leaving something behind. last year we went up in the mountains and it felt weird. It wasnt ment to be cut down it was ment to watch over all the life in the forest. Now that we go to a farm I dont feel as bad. I know it is still taking a life but they are planted for it.
By the way I wont pick just any tree this year it took over an hour of walking 12 acers befor the one we have spoke to me. I swear it even emits a postive glow in the house.

[Maggie]

I appreciate live trees, although I don't have one every year--I also have a very nice fake one! When we do have a live one, it goes either to a place where it is turned into mulch, or I keep for use. The last one I had is still in my garden. I cut the branches close, stood it upright and grew a hyacinth bean up it. This year I might do morning glories......

Maggie

[mato]

I'm the first one to vote "I dont do the christmas tree thing" Yippy! Hurray for me! Whoo Hoo!

[Danustouch]

I have a fake tree. I do care..but I wouldn't go as far as to say I think it's HORRIBLE to have a real tree. I guess it depends on the circumstances. I can't have a real one anyway, since I'm highly allergic to pine. But...If I were to have a real tree, I think I'd go out and plant one, in return. As a way of saying.." I know you've done this great thing for me, and given me joy. And I haven't taken it lightly. I plant this, a new tree life, to replace the one which you sacrificed, for my pleasure. Thank You.". That's the way I would do it.

I feel bad that more people don't realize the significance of felling a pine tree.

But..as I said..if someone wants to cut down a pine tree to use as a Christmas tree, and have the proper attitude of reverance, and plant one in its' place, IMO, it's no differen't than ANY life we use for ourselves. Such as the eating of meat, or the gathering of grain. All life, human, plant, and animal, is sacred. So we should always be thankful, for everything on this earth, that we use, or consume, in anyway..IMO.

I've also thought about how people just throw their live tree's away, at the end of the holidays. Couldn't they somehow use the rest of the tree, for something??? Build something with it, or use it in their fires, or as mulch? I see far too many tree's just left by the roadside, and toated off by garbage trucks to the dump. IMO...it would be far better to try to use the entire thing, for your fuel, or..as mulch (the same theory as ashes to ashes, dust to dust). or something..then just being that wasteful...

[Maggie]

Originally posted by Danustouch
I've also thought about how people just throw their live tree's away, at the end of the holidays. Couldn't they somehow use the rest of the tree, for something??? Build something with it, or use it in their fires, or as mulch? I see far too many tree's just left by the roadside, and toated off by garbage trucks to the dump. IMO...it would be far better to try to use the entire thing, for your fuel, or..as mulch (the same theory as ashes to ashes, dust to dust). or something..then just being that wasteful...

More and more places are doing just that--the county I live in uses the resulting mulch around the county the rest of the year. As I said in my post--my last live Christmas tree is still in my garden, I grew hyacinth beans up it this past summer.

Maggie

[Sequoia]

My dad usually turns the tree into firewood. It smells really nice.

But something my mom suggested one year (me and my bro got a fake tree instead) was to get a small, POTTED pine tree. That way it doesn't die, and when it gets too big for the pot, you can plant it outside. Or repot it ^^; hehe and ifyou DO repot it, and you use a wide enough planter, you have a space to put presents where kiddies/kitties can't get at 'em. hehe

[Myst]

I agree with Danustouch. We don't have a Christmas tree here because we go home to our various families for Christmas anyway, but at my parents' we have a fake tree, and at my in laws they have a potted live tree that is there year round. When we get our own we'll choose one of those two options.

[Lavender]

I didn't voted because we cut a real tree each year. We go up to the mountains, under the power lines, & find a tree there. These are the trees that would be cut down each spring because they're not allow to grow under power lines. So, I don't feel bad because I always ask the tree if it wants to come home with us. We tell it why we want it & wait for a response. Sometimes we get no & we look for another tree. And we always leave an offering and seeds for the birds.

We would have about 4 or 5 families that would go up there together. The kids would bring sleds & toboggans & have a great time. We bring hot chocolates & coffee & it's a very special time. I always felt the trees we cut are happy to come home with us. It's not sad at all. After the holidays, the trees will be chipped & spread out as mulch. On goes the cycle of life. And part of the trunk is usually save to be next year's Yule log.

[Old Witch]

Live Christmas trees give me hives and asthma attacks. I have a really good fake. People have to touch it to see if its fake!;)

[Myst]

Wildchild : that's a great idea! I would love to do the same thing in that situation.

[Kaylara]

I would much rather have a real tree that wanted to come home with me than a fake one that will out last the destruction of the human race by a couple of million years.

Kaylara

[Old Witch]

Oh, we also have an eight foot Norfolk Island Pine that comes into the greenhouse for winter that we decorate. I'm not allergic to it because it isn't a pine tree really.

[Danustouch]

Wildchild..that is a really good idea!

And yes, using part of it as a yule log, or burning it in your fire as fuel, or using it as mulch...whatever you can do to really put some appreciation towards that tree, is good.

We've thought about getting a small potted tree...but again..i'm allergic, so it wouldn't make sense. Besides..Pine trees, even potted, may not like the heat very much. I would love to have a house, where there is a solarium in one part of it..where we could have a big pine tree all year round, inside. And then just decorate it for the holidays. Of course, I'd have to stay out of that room much of the time, due to my allergies..but..it's a nice thought.

One of my friends threw a tree decorating party one year. But instead of decorating a tree, indoors, she made hot drinks for everyone, (hot chocolate, mulled cider, tea, and coffee), and had them bring thermoses. they filled their thermoses, and made hand made edible ornaments, in her house, and then went outside, found a pine tree, and decorated it with the edible ornaments. Instead of using wire, or thread or hooks to thread them with. She bought those long licorice laces. And they used that to tie them with. They made frosting, and put large lumps of it onto waxed paper...then they stuck popcorn, and berries onto them, peeled it off the paper, poked a hole through, and strung them on liqourice. Peanut butter and birdseed on pine cones, Bagles, and doughnuts, were easy to hang...peeled tangerines, and poked the liquorice strings through, and hung them. Also, christmas cookies, with holes, strings of liquorice knotted into circles with cheerieo's and fruitloops..etc.

I always thought that was a very nice idea :) Would love to do that someday:)

[Lavender]

That's a great idea for a tree decorating party. Heh! I bet the kids & adults "sample" some of the decorations too. :D

[Illuminatus]

OMG, I can't believe you people. You cut down a tree, and then thank it for dying to decorate your house? You people are sick! Aplogising to a plant for taking a few leaves I can understand.. but taking its life? Am I missing something here?!

Though if you're going to use it to heat your house in the fireplace, that I can understand.

[Lavender]

:D Yeah! I'm just warped! :D

[MammaStar]

We get a real one at my Mom's every year. My brother's & their buddies go pick it out. I used to go, but then the "Menfolk" decided that it would be their job to get it. :rolleyes:

When it's time to take it down, my Mom & I take it out to the woods and leave it there. That way, it goes back to the woods & can serve many purposes there. Decompose, home for little critters. I also take a branch to use as a new Yule log.

At my own house, I'm thinking of getting a potted one, so I can plant it out back when it gets too big. I want to do something, since this past summer the bulldozed the woods to make room for a pipeline. Just gotta be careful before digging. ;)

[mato]

I know it is late to do this but I just saw a tree out on the curb and I just had to draw a chalk outline around it and put up some fake police tap (tp :p)... It was just so sad to see the tree tossed aside after being killed, it was such a beautiful tree when it was alive... so my stance has changed.

FIR IS MURDER!!!

[Pagecrd]

this is th first year in many years tha i've had a live tree. i was sooooooooo happy to get that thing out of my house. stupid tree died on me within a week. luckily the needles were easy to clean up. i will never ever ever have a livetree again. and never shop menards!

[LilydePlume]

I have been getting a Leyland Cyprus in a pot, for my YULE tree, and planting it afterward, and I now have a great green fence on one side of my home.....that is about fifteen feet tall.
The farmed trees are raised like asparagus,
for cutting , and using farmed trees saves many many acres of forest, and they can be recycled too.
Fake trees are just that to me; fake.
BB
LP

[FeatherGoblinglimmer]

I wish i could afford a real tree....My grandparents used to get a real tree and it was soo pretty, but mine is a tree i got in the x,as sale for five pounds. It is a good tall one. But i do want to have a real one when i can afford it.

[Phoenix Blue]

I added an option for us heartless gits who don't feel bad in the least about chopping down a tree for Christmas celebration. :devil:

[WandererInGray]

I wish I could find the article about how fake trees are actually MORE damaging to the environment than getting a real tree.

My Organic Style actually recommends getting a live tree since "most are grown on farms like any other crop and can be an eco-smart choice as long as they're properly recycled". :D

I do know that many states Forestry Services offer a Tree cutting program to help them clear out overcrowded forests. My family made this an annual tradition. It's a lot of fun and a lot of work! But you get really good trees.

[Athena-Nadine]

You beat me to it, Wanderer. :)

Phoenix, I don't think not feeling bad about it makes me heatless. ;)

Like Wanderer said, fake trees end up being more harmful to the environment. Nevermind the fact that they're horribly ugly. *...shudders...*

Not only are the real trees people buy in stores grown on a farm and harvested like any other crop, and the ones cut from the forests themselves done to help keep the forests healthy, but they also recycle really well. You'd be amazed how many things you can use mulch for.

[Rockprincess]

I know all the arguments *for* real trees, but I...mmm...I don't know what to call it, i guess I am a tree empath? ;)...anyway because I could not personally cut the tree down, I choose to have a fake one.

Hmm...I wonder why I don't apply the same logic to meat? :devil:

(edited so the devil will show up ;))

[Flaire-FireStar]

Old poll......and we have since got a fake tree .:lol:

Guess my vote doesn't count anymore :p

[twisted_silhouette]

I find the death of anything quite sad, so I keep a fake christmas tree. I don't celebrate christmas (or want to) unless one of my relatives visites (they're all christian).

[faylinn]

I always loved getting live Christmas trees. They seem so much better than the fake ones. They also have a lovely scent too. But I always feel bad getting one, but the feeling always goes away. So, I always try to make the tree as beautiful as possible.

[Hoot]

Our tree isn't really a tree at all, but a big pot of ivy (an evergreen) growing on a five-foot cone-shaped tuteur, so it looks treeish. Right now it's on our balcony. During the peak growing seaon, I have to trim it in shape about twice a month and keep it fertilized. Then it comes inside as it gets colder, and I wrap it with lights, ribbon, and light sparkly ornaments. I have to be careful about watering it when the lights are on it, though. We've done this for four years now, and I like it...

[Mindflayer]

we have a fake tree (by we, I mean my parents, which is where I will be at christmas)


we used to have real trees every year, but the mess was horrible, it's cheaper to haev a fake tree, and the dogs kept drinking the tree's water :p

[~*Ginger*~]

Having been raised in a home with asthmatic siblings, we never had a real tree.
So it's just natural for me to have a fake tree for my kids.

My grandmother always had a real tree that granddaddy had cut from their land.
It always seemed so nasty to me, as in the fall out.
The last thing I need is another mess to clean up.

We did however have to cut trees for heating the house.
It made me ill to have to do the cutting of them, and I swear, the ax seemed to just bounce off the tree when I tried.
daddy finally just let me do the carrying of the wood.
*thank goodness*

I am another who is affected by the cutting of trees.
When they go to striping the land around me I get literally ill.

[Pan]

I voted "No, I don't feel bad about it at all!" because the trees that we always got (when we got real ones when I was living with my parents) were at department stores, where they get their trees from places specifically grown for Christmas trees.

Now, I have a fake tree since I can't rightly afford a real one. The fake one was a gift, and I don't care if people call it ugly, or whatever. It was a gift from hubby's grampa (who died earlier this year). I'll never replace it unless it breaks.

We've always just left the tree on the side of the road when it died. I never thought anything about it. I still don't, really. We always lived in Navy Housing where there really weren't any forests around, nor were there really too many houses with fireplaces. If that makes me heartless, oh well. 8O

I don't get ill watching someone cut down a tree. Stripping the land is a different story. My grandparents used to get live trees from their land and then burn the wood in their own wood-burning stove. I always liked that stove, and since we have a fireplace that we can USE now, I might have to get some firewood from my grandfather. :)

So, I'll just put up my little fake tree and decorate it with the ornaments and other stuff that an online friend mailed to me ... sicne she knew we didn't have ANY decorations. Friends are so nice to have. :D

[door]

I don't celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense, so no tree for me. Besides, even the trees grown specifically for Christmas need a lot of water and time to grow and then what? In some places burning them is illegal, due to increase chances of house fires (because of the sap).

Every year in the town I live in people dump their trees off at the fair grounds. It just becomes this HUGE pile of trees, and every year I see it I find it really disturbing. I think I am going to get a shot of it this year.

[SnowyMoon]

My hubby refuses to kill at tree for decoration. We have had a fake one for years. This year, we are going to attempt finding one with a root ball for planting afterward. If we can't fake it is again...LOL.

[FaeFollower]

Fake tree here. I don't think I would want to cut down a live tree just for the sake of decoration, but, to be honest, we just have a fake because it's sooo much easier. I spray this evergreen-scent stuff all over it though, so you'd never know it was fake! :lol:

[MoonDust]

two words:

Plastic Tree.

[DebLipp]

I had to switch to a fake tree when I got divorced, because I couldn't carry a live tree by myself.

But I don't feel bad in the least about getting a live tree. They're farmed. It would be like feeling bad for buying lettuce.

[MoonDust]

and those fiber optic dealies cut out having to wrap your tree in lights. I like that

[Thistle]

We usually go to a tree farm, but this year we got a fake tree because hubby has a pinched nerve in his back, and he just can't walk that far.

The tree isn't wasted, it's either turned into mulch or I use it to run beans or sweet peas up in the spring, and part of the trunk gets used as next year's Yule log.

[AuroraSilvermist]

Fake tree. I don't really LIKE the idea of lopping down live trees for the holidays, but HORRIBLE is a pretty strong word. If others want to continue to do it, I guess I'm not really going to protest an age-old tradition, but personally...I like the trees where they are.

[badkitty]

We don't do a tree, as we get our cats enough toys throughout the year ;) Being from New England if I had a tree it would be real. Supporting the Christmas tree farm business is a great way of supporting the local economy around here.

[Memnoch McKiln]

I don't really mess with the Christmas tree myself, I help decorate a little, but that's about it. but, when I have my own place next year, If i got a real tree, I'd definatly thank it, but alas, I'll probably just have a little fake one

[Cheshire_Cat]

We'd always had a fake tree out of pure laziness so I'd never really thought about feeling bad for the real ones some people use.

[WynterWynd]

We have a real one every year, and it is bought from a place that has been raising xmas/yule trees for close to 40 years now. Its there crop, and that is what they are grown for. Just like fuits and vegies!;) I would not go out into the forest and 'harvest' my own tree.

[LadyWillow]

When I was younger,we used to have a live tree, but we got tired of cleaning up the pine needles year after year. So, we went to fake trees. We don't have to go out and kidnap a live tree, we don't have to kill one, we don't have much cleaning up to do. It's simple and perfect. I'd rather have a fake one than a real one any day.

[Romani Vixen]

I'm kind of a mix... I personally thank the tree, prefering to cut myself, and utilizing all the leftovers (will only do this if I have a fireplace). My bf won't go near cut ones (though he *theoretically* is open to cutting and using), he calls the lots graveyards. So we have a fakie.

FalconSong

[Witchzee1]

We don't do a tree any more. I never liked the real ones, even though they smell wonderful, cuz I do feel bad that they are cut down for such a short period of time, and so many are left unpurchased. <sigh> I guess I just feel that it isn't necessary when the fake ones look just as good ... just my opinion.

Blessed Yule to all!

[Greywood]

Nope don't feel bad at all. Course we only buy trees specifically cultivated for that purpose, and make good use of the remains when its all said and done. I'd much rather have a real tree than a fake one that will take a millenia to decay when it finally goes to the dump

[lil_lady_luck]

I always buy a live tree that is still alive. I get it with the root ball and plant it afterwards. It's a little more expensive than a cut tree, but it's worth it. :)

[Epona44]

Every year I go into the forest and gather spruce, fur, hemlock and juniper boughs to decorate the doorways and entrances. (Of course, I thank the trees.) I add pine cones and ornaments, and bits of ribbon.

It's beautiful, and the cats can't get to it. The wonderful evergreen smell is there.

[MoonIsis]

I don't like live trees for Xmas. Majority of people have it up for a week or maybe a little longer and out on the trash it goes. The trees are more beautiful where nature intended them to be....in the forest...not in our living rooms.

I get upset at my folks about this. This year, we set up and got a tree on Xmas eve...3 days after x mas all the gifts were put away...mine were in a pile to be put away when I got in from work...and my mom already talked about taking the tree down new years day. What's the point of spending 40 bucks on this tree if you don't even keep it up for a week or more to enjoy it? Fake trees also don't require watering and come in many different colors and sizes now so if you wanted a small one it would probably be the same cost as getting a real one....only you don't have to worry about getting a tree again the next year...you have one already....:)

Although the part about the live trees being more "earth friendly" in terms of breaking down when thrown away does kinda throw me back a bit if I were to get a fake one...hmmm...I like the idea of cutting the greens from the forest...and making your own type of tree...that sounds like a creative idea!

And why does it have to be a tree anyways...how about a cactus? he he...

[MoonChild78]

To me, it isn't the holidays without the scent of pine.
Years ago, my grandfather planted 10 acers of pine trees to sell at xmas for xtra holiday money. well, the trees kinda grew out of control so my family would cut off tops of the trees for a couple reasons. 1- for a xmas tree, 2- to get some of that out of controlness, under control, and 3- to get new growth, kinda like with lilac bushes. But alas, when a couple years ago, they got sick of getting the tree, messing with the tree and cleanin up after the tree they got a fake (and does it ever look fake!). i cried, becuase it didn't feel right to have a plastic tree in the house. Now that i live in my own place, i have fake but i hate it. I love the smell of pine and right now burn pine candles instead but it's just not the same. i don't feel bad really for cutting them down since we always uesd the tree later for mulch. but yeah, i hate to see real trees tosed out by the road. i might try to save some this year. my b/f laughs, but i feel that i should. so, i grab branches and keep them in teh house as long as possible. i might even try to get a good trunk for a yule log! all i know is, i prefer a live tree becuase of all the postive memories but i have to have a fake one for now. though i was going to get a potted pine but i got sick and just didn't do it. :bundled: