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Christmas Tree
Real 17 (53.1%)
Fake 11 (34.4%)
None 2 (6.3%)
Other 2 (6.3%)
Total Votes: 32
Christmas Tree Poll
Topic Started: Dec 13 2010, 01:27 PM (528 Views)
Copper
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Shortstop

We just got a tree.

$70 from the farmers who come down from the mountains for Christmas. It's convenient - just at the end of our street.


The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
$15 from the boy scouts lot. douglas fir; a charlie brown classic. I don't like the cultured trees.
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Picking one up on Saturday at Costco, tthey are bringing in gorgeous Doulas Firs for only $30 every week.

(We don't put up our tree until Christmas Eve, old family tradition)
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Cathys
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Senior Carp
I love real trees but for several years we were using an artificial one. Ah, but since moving to Virginia I've gotten my way :D and we have had real trees every year since we've been out here. The fake one is just looking pretty rough and it is a real PITA to set up. Not like those new pre-lit ones they have now. Still can't get that real tree smell with an artificial though so I'm not in a big rush to replace it.
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big al
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Bull-Carp
A real tree for us. We've been buying from the same farm for years. We go there and pick out the one we want, then they cut and bundle it for the trip home. That may change this year because I like a white pine and they have not been planting them lately - the taste has shifted to some varieties of furs. I really don't like spruces because the needles become too hard and sharp as the tree ages.

When we first moved into our house we bought live, balled trees for several years and planted them in the yard after Christmas, but we ran out of space that we wanted to use for more trees years ago. Some of those trees are pretty large now.

There is a blue spruce tree on the farm I grew up on that was the same height as me in a picture when I was a boy. Now it's about 70-80 feet tall.

One of my favorite personal Christmas stories occurred when I was out of work and just trying to make ends meet with a wife and small son at home. I managed to scrape a few dollars together on Christmas eve and went out to buy a tree, but all the tree stands had closed. I finally ended up about 15 miles from home and pulled into a closed gas station where I saw a few pine boughs peeping out of the snow behind the station - the remnants of their seasonal tree business. For lack of anything else, I thought I'd pull a few together and make something out of them - a wreath or something festive like that. As I tugged them out and shook the snow off, what should emerge but a very nice little tree. I guessed they'd had one left and just tossed it in with the trimmings when they closed up. With no one around to pay, I cleaned the snow off it, put it in the trunk of my car, and drove home. Along the way, I stopped at an open convenience store and bought some candy, fruit, and a couple of knick-knacks with the money that I had intended to spend on a tree. I still think of that as my miracle Christmas tree. We decorated it with popcorn strings and homemade ornaments. I got three job offers almost simultaneously a few weeks into the New Year and started working on March 2nd so the next Christmas was not nearly so austere.

Big Al
Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
We've got a fake tree. I hate it. I hate digging it out, hate decorating it, hate having to rearrange the whole room to accommodate it... I basically hate the holidays. It's only me, my wife, and my daughter. Man, who cares if we have a frickin' tree or not? :rolleyes:

I hate Christmas music too!
I hate the way everything is thrown into chaos for the whole month of December.
I hate the way my mailbox gets stuffed with every catalog known to mankind.
I hate winter, too.

I wish I were a bear and could just hibernate.

Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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KlavierBauer
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HOLY CARP!!!
Mrs.KB and I went up to a very large burn area from a forest fire a few years back (the Hayman fire). Her Brother, some friends, and her parents went with us, and all of us paid $10 for a permit to cut down a tree (6" or less in diameter). This is great for the forest service, as it helps clear out a lot of new-growth that is encroaching on old-growth. It helps maintain the forest properly, and allows us to get a real Xmas tree that hasn't been drying out for 4 months already.
It's in our garage now, enjoying a few more days of chilly/not-so-dry weather. It's amazing - typically in CO, you walk by a tree and needles fall off. This is the first we've ever had, that you can pinch a branch, and slide your hand up it, without pulling off one needle. They're so soft - I think we'll do this every year.
It was a real hoot when we were up there - people tailgating with campfires and hot chocolate at the parking lot, families dragging trees a mile back to their car - it was awesome.
We got a few trees, paid $10 a pop, and had a really fun time. I think our days of convenient (but expensive) supermarket or farm trees may be over.
"I realize you want him to touch you all over and give you babies, but his handling of the PR side really did screw the pooch." - Ivory Thumper
"He said sleepily: "Don't worry mom, my dick is like hot logs in the morning." - Apple

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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
You are a bear Frank! :lol:
___.___
(_]===*
o 0
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Frank_W
Dec 13 2010, 02:07 PM
We've got a fake tree. I hate it. I hate digging it out, hate decorating it, hate having to rearrange the whole room to accommodate it... I basically hate the holidays. It's only me, my wife, and my daughter. Man, who cares if we have a frickin' tree or not? :rolleyes:

I hate Christmas music too!
I hate the way everything is thrown into chaos for the whole month of December.
I hate the way my mailbox gets stuffed with every catalog known to mankind.
I hate winter, too.

I wish I were a bear and could just hibernate.

SCROOOOOOGE!!!!!!!


:veryangry:

I'm gonna forward this to your sensei and get him to kick your everloving @ss!
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
:lol2: Mea maximus Culpa.
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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brenda
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..............
Big Al, I love your story. :)
Merry Christmas!
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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brenda
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..............
Frank, you have a sweet daughter and a gorgeous wife. :)
Just thought I needed to put that into the mix.

I'll bet you catch my meaning.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
that's a great story, big al. :smile:
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Yeah... They put up with me. I'm one grouchy son-of-a-bitch. :lol2:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Wonderful story Al. It helps keep things in perspective.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Al, I love your miracle tree story!

We've always cut our trees down - almost always a noble fir, which I like because they have more room to hang stuff on.

This year we decided to save the $40-60 bucks from the tree farm (they do cut if for you if you want, shake out the needles and wrap it) but the cost, and the mud! Didn't want to deal with it. So, we bought a tree from our church charity sale. Cost was $25 and no mud. Nothing I'd ever pick if I was out tromping around, but for half cost I'd take a crooked tree.

I kinda hoped my wife, who suggested this cost-cutting move, would now be open to a fake, pre-lit tree. She's not having any of it. Too bad, saw one at Target that was literally indistinguishable from a real noble fir. Pre-lit and everything. Sigh.

I'm actually kinda with Frank. If I didn't have family to please, I'd travel or cruise over the holiday.
Edited by Kincaid, Dec 13 2010, 02:21 PM.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Frank_W
Dec 13 2010, 02:19 PM
Yeah... They put up with me. I'm one grouchy son-of-a-bitch. :lol2:
ya need a real tree, then you'll feel better. :biggrin:
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Ok, now I've got to figure out how to get Frank's sensei to the Pacific Northwest.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Great story, Al!

The year our daughter was born was a singularly tough and awful year. The pregnancy had been hellish, the weather got vicious, and then our baby daughter had to go back into the hospital for a few days because she got jaundice.

Christmas drew closer and closer, and we hadn't done anything, and what's more, we didn't feel like doing anything.

One night, about three days before Christmas, I scraped together what little money I had, called my wife and told her I'd be late, and then went out Christmas shopping. I bought a tree, ornaments, and lights. Then I went Christmas shopping and bought presents at places that would gift-wrap them for me. I bought some other odds and ends for stocking stuffers, and bought stockings, too.

When I got home, my wife and daughter were asleep. I managed to get everything into the house very quietly, and began setting up the tree, then decorated it, then hung the stockings, filled them, placed all of the presents under the tree, and then fell into bed, exhausted.

The next morning, the look on my wife's face, the look in her eyes... I'll never forget it.

(crap... screen's all blurry....)
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
And you try to act the Scrooge now? For shame, Frank and I'm not buying it.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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brenda
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..............
Frank_W
Dec 13 2010, 02:24 PM
Great story, Al!

The year our daughter was born was a singularly tough and awful year. The pregnancy had been hellish, the weather got vicious, and then our baby daughter had to go back into the hospital for a few days because she got jaundice.

Christmas drew closer and closer, and we hadn't done anything, and what's more, we didn't feel like doing anything.

One night, about three days before Christmas, I scraped together what little money I had, called my wife and told her I'd be late, and then went out Christmas shopping. I bought a tree, ornaments, and lights. Then I went Christmas shopping and bought presents at places that would gift-wrap them for me. I bought some other odds and ends for stocking stuffers, and bought stockings, too.

When I got home, my wife and daughter were asleep. I managed to get everything into the house very quietly, and began setting up the tree, then decorated it, then hung the stockings, filled them, placed all of the presents under the tree, and then fell into bed, exhausted.

The next morning, the look on my wife's face, the look in her eyes... I'll never forget it.

(crap... screen's all blurry....)
This comes from the same man who just said he didn't like Christmas.
:hug:
See?
I knew better than to believe all that other stuff. There is a gooey marshmallow inside your charred crust.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Well... Anyway... That was back when I still had a heart, and I was still half man, half biscuit.

Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Fake, but nobody can tell. We bought it about 20 years ago at Target for maybe $75. This was a few years ago, but it looks exactly the same, big colored pearl globe lights. With the bright coral in our family room wimpy little lights would get lost. Mojo looks the same too. As a matter of fact this is my view right at the moment.

Every single ornament has a meaning and a family memory attached.

Posted Image
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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George K
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Finally
The Mrs. is deathly allergic to the mold in a real tree. The last real tree we got was in in 1980. It lasted 24 hours in our house, and I pitched it. She couldn't help because her asthma was so bad.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
Big Al and Frank, I like your stories. :)

Last year my mom, Liam, and I went to get a real tree. My mom and I had to cut it down. Using one of those weird long cartoon lumberjack saws. We were not at all skilled at this. Liam found it hilarious. I have video.

I was allergic to the __ing tree. Went to pharmacist for something to get rid of the itching. The rash lasted for a couple weeks. Then returned when I had to take the stupid thing down.

This year I have a shiny new pre-lit fake tree.

"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

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