Fake, but made from real trees.
have to have a real tree. it is a hassle but it is traditional
Heh… yeah, I know.
We’ve been trying to down-size our possessions with an eye toward a future cross-country move. (One of these years!) A new tree would either be one more bulky thing we’d have to take with us, or a waste of money if we only use it a couple times and leave it behind.
“Only a real tree will do” or “Artifical all the way”? Why so black-and-white?
We have a fake one which we put up some years. Other years, we decide we want a real one and go get one. I don’t have much preference, other than the fake one saves me a trip to the store (and $$).
Real tree. That smell! I can’t imagine Christmas without a real tree.
Real tree.
The primary reason is not because the tree itself is real. (I couldn’t care less.) It’s because we have three children, and we all look forward to the yearly ritual of going to the Christmas Tree Farm and cutting down a tree.
Given my druthers we’d have an artificial tree. When it comes to real xmas trees I loathe the smell; the frustration of getting the damn thing and prepping it sours what should be a fun day of decorating, and the mess just isn’t worth it.
That said, my wife only spends every other xmas at home with me. The off year she spends with her family back in Montreal, and she’s a sucker for real trees; so I get outvoted every year she’s home.
The enjoyment she derives from having a real one almost makes the bother worth it.
We have a live tree (so “real”, but not “real” as in a cut, dead one).
We used to buy a 4-5 ft. tall Doug Fir or other evergreen, decorate it and plant it outside in the spring. Currently, we don’t have anywhere to plant, so we’ve been using a 4-5 ft. Norfolk pine which lives on the balcony most of the year and comes in to get decked out and stays up until spring solstice or soon after.
We “kinda-sorta” do Christmas…a few gifts and decorating the tree and a nice dinner and we often make candles, but mostly pagan. I enjoy having the lit up tree through the long winter. 
Mine is currently non-existent but I do have an artificial packed away some where. I just haven’t felt like doing the whole decorating thing for the past few years until I find a good way to cat proof everything. I do usually bring out a little table sized fiber-optic tree for Christmas Eve but that’s about it.
For as long as I can remember we always had artificial trees.
<100% serious answer>
I voted for artificial, because you didn’t have the answer that fits me best.
I don’t “do” Christmas…but I do have two artificial trees. They live in boxes in my garage.
I occasionally loan them out to treeless friends who want to throw Christmas parties.
</100% serious answer>
-D/a
Artificial, all my life. Last year my partner wanted a real tree so we had both, but he didn’t insist this year so I just went with the fake. The real one came with creepy crawlies in it, was a hassle to get to balanced and standing right in the stand, dropped needles all over the place, needed ongoing care in the form of watering and, when it finally came down, was a problem to dispose of.
I never had a real Christmas tree in my whole life (46 years). I would love to have one. I live by myself so I don’t see the point of getting any tree.
I worked at one hotel and we had a real tree but that was it. All the other hotels and places I worked at have fake Christmas trees
Not when you’re married to a hoarder. When I finally left, she still had a blender that burned out the first year we were married, along with tons of other shit that served no purpose. It drove me nuts.
I do this: xkcd: Tree
But really, I don’t do Christmas and I especially do not do decorating.
I’m allergic to pine, so I haven’t had a real tree since I was a small child. At the moment we don’t have a tree up since the kitties will wrestle it to the floor any time we take our eyes off them. Instead, I have lights on my ficus and rosemary boughs around the house for fragrance and greenery.
Artificial, always. I hate the smell of pine, and don’t want the hassle of watering and cleaning up the debris. It’s a big poofy pre-lit tree, so I don’t even have to string the lights around it.
Yes, I’m a trifle lazy. But my tree is pretty.
+1
The orchard a mile away with 8-10lb apple pies is a lucky coincidence. As is the vineyard a mile further.
Season Greetings!
I use the original family aluminum tree with the 1959 color wheel my dad bought before I was born. Rescued from my mom’s attic 10 years ago.
It just wouldn’t be Christmas without it.
Exactly what I was going to write. That smell is Christmas, to me. That and getting pine needles stuck in your socks for weeks, of course. 
We used to go with a live tree for years at home and a cheap $15.00 Costco artificial tree for years where we’d be away for the holiday and couldn’t justify dropping $40-60 on a live tree just to have it sit lonely on Christmas morning.
This year though the $15 tree broke and I just bought a much nicer and much more expensive artificial tree last night for 50% off (woohoo!) which I suspect will become the annual tree now.