It's fake but it looks damn good! (Tips On Christmas Trees: Fake vs Real)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Tips On Christmas Trees: Fake vs Real
Date:	11/12/08 (155 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks good, doesn't drop needles, used year after year

Disadvantages: No smell!

Well I confess - our Christmas tree has been up since the beginning of November this year! We usually do it on the last weekend in November but this year the first weekend in November was the last weekend that Dave and I would both be at home together without guests staying with us until the weekend before Christmas! We decided that, if we left it until the last minute, it would hardly be worth bothering so we went for it! I do love to see the tree all lit up so I was quite happy for it to go up early.

When we lived in the Midlands we often had a real tree as I do love the smell of a real tree. Where we lived the lounge was just too small for the tree to go in there but we had a conservatory on the back of the house and a large window between that and the kitchen. What I used to do was to put the tree on a table in the conservatory so that it was framed by the kitchen window. It used to look lovely when it was dark outside and the lights were on the tree. Being in the conservatory it meant that a real tree was an option as it was cool enough in there to keep it looking good from the beginning of December until Christmas Day and beyond.

I had a tree still growing in a tub one year and because I could keep it cool indoors and I watered it well, it survived and went outside in the garden, still in the tub, and I used it for four consecutive years until it finally became pot bound and died,

When we moved to Llandudno we initially had a big Victorian house so that mom and dad could live with us as I was their full time carer. The house had large bay windows on the front so we decided to go for an artificial tree and to make it a good one.

We looked round the various garden centres and found a very realistic tree - we went for a six foot one and mom and dad decided to just have a four foot one and stand theirs on the coffee table. From memory I think ours cost about £80 and the smaller one about £50 but we decided that it was an investment! That was six years ago and it still looks just as good now.

The tree is put together by first assembling the trunk which is in three pieces. This has rings of colour coded holes around it and we then have to fit all the branches matching the colour coded ends so that the tree looks the right shape. One year I put the centre together wrongly and when Dave was adding the branches I suddenly realised that the tree looked a very odd shape!

Anyway the tree always looked stunning standing in our big bay window decorated and all lit up.

As you may know, since we have now lost mom and dad, Dave and I have moved into a small cottage so there are no bay windows this year!

When we came to put up the tree I was very dubious about using the six foot one and also whether we would have room for any tree in our little lounge. Dave persuaded me that it would be OK so we went for it!

He constructed the tree and put on the lights and I still wasn't convinced. We carried on and put on all the red and gold baubles some of which I remember from my childhood and I still even have one from my grandmother's tree. Incidentally its surprising how much heavier that one is than any of the modern ones! The final touch for our tree is some stuff that we bought from our local garden centre and I am going to try and describe it. It's a sort of fluffy tinsel that you tease out into strands and when the lights are on the tree it sort of twinkles in blue and white light. Trust me it does look stunning.

So there you are we have a six foot tree in our little lounge!

When the log burner is alight, all the candles are lit and the lights on the tree are switched on I have to admit Dave was right it really does look amazing! Dave says it what he has always imagined the perfect Christmas room would look like - bless him!

We did wonder what Mew would make of it and whether he would try and climb it or take the baubles off but he has been as good as gold! Mind you he does hide underneath it at night when it is time for him to go into his room for the night!

So, as much as I love the smell of a real tree, we are firmly in the artificial camp now!

Summary: Log fire, candles and christmas tree lights!