oh christmas tree... how lovely are your branches... (Tips On Christmas Trees: Fake vs Real)

Member Name: freud

Product:	Tips On Christmas Trees: Fake vs Real
Date:	23/10/08 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: love any type of tree

Disadvantages: real ones don't last long enough for us

I really love Christmas & one of the most important things for me, since being a child, has been the Christmas tree.

I was born in the 1950s & the fake trees were truly horrible in those days - very bright green & very plasticy-looking so I was thrilled every year when my parents, brothers , my sister & I went to choose our real one.

We always went for the big bushy type - there wasn't the choice we have today - and weights had to be hung on the branches for 24 hours so that the branches would drop enough to decorate them.

Every year my Mother used to say 'we'll go for a smaller one this year', but this was a standing family joke as every year we had to lob off the top of the tree despite the fact that we had high ceilings!

The pine fragrance was divine and you could smell 'Christmas' all over the house....

The decorating of the tree was a family event and the ones we'd made over the years were hung with love each year along with big fairy lights & loads of tinsel. The rather tarty-looking fairy came out year after year & that was our tree folks!

Our eldest daughter was born on 10th December so for the last 22 years I've made sure that our tree is up ready for Birthday & other parties. Having a tree decorated this early on in the month means that we don't, unfortunately, have a real one but I have a magnificent artificial one which look like the real thing.

I bought this 7ft bushy, realistic one from QVC several years ago and it cost well over £100 but was on easy-pay & it has proved to be a great investment as it will last for years.

It has 750 clear lights already attached but I add a few hundred more as this is the focus of our Christmas house.

I don't like tinsel as I prefer lametta & star garlands & the branches are adorned with decorations which my daughters & I have collected over the years.

Each decoration has a special memory so the tree is very special to us all. Some of them are traditional baubles whilst others are contemporary, most have been bought in the UK but some have been bought abroad & are very unusual.

We can never decide what to pop on the top but it's usually a star - one year we had Homer Simpson.


It takes me over a day to decorate it from start to finish but I think it's well worth the effort as the whole family gets so much pleasure from looking at it.

Once the tree is dressed we can get on with the other decorating - oh, didn't I tell you? - my daughters have trees in their bedrooms & we have one in the dining-room & a flat one on the wall in the hall & a little one in the bathroom.....

Happy Christmas!

Summary: real or fake trees - they all look good to me!