REAL OR FAKE?

I BET YOU THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A POST ABOUT BOOBS OR BILL CLINTON, OR BOTH.

 

Despite their great looks and smell, some Americans are starting to associate real Christmas trees with unnecessary work and hassle. Vacuuming all of those loose needles and disposing of the brown behemoth are chores you don’t have to deal with when you buy a fake tree made out of polyvinyl chloride.

More and more people are willing to sacrifice the advantages of the real deal for the one off purchase of something a little less exciting but also a little less stressful. It’s no surprise that 14.7 million fake trees were sold in the United States last year, despite their high price tag of $81 on average. In comparison, 33 million real trees were sold at an average price of $35 each in 2013. Even though more real trees were sold last year, the retail value of fakes was stronger, at $1.19 billion compared to $1.16 billion for real trees.

Infographic: Christmas Trees By The Numbers: Real vs Fake | Statista

You will find more statistics at Statista

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Tim
Tim

For us, it’s real trees. I always feel like I’m cheating by buying one, as opposed to going out into the woods, a la Clark Griswold.

Admin would be proud of me. Instead of buying a high-dollar tree (well over $100) from the local vendor at the tent, we went to Lowe’s and bought one for ten bucks off their clearance rack.

Brought it home, put it in a little water, dress it up, and it looks beautiful. Well, not beautiful. But it looks OK.

Bostonbob

Both, A real tree for the kids (18 and 21) and a fake tree for my wife’s special ornaments. Also lights on the house, wreaths on all the windows, poinsettias throughout the house and decorations in every room. We love Christmas, usually our Jewish friends come over to help us decorate the trees.
Bob.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=105185714

TE
TE

As a kid we had real trees until I was 8 or 9, that year the energy and currency recession was screaming and General Tire offered huge discounts and convenient (25% interest! What a bargain!) to their employees to take their petroleum based trees off their hands. That year we were broke, Dad gladly paid them Tuesday for the floor model tree on Christmas Eve. Now that I think about it, I had to be 8 as that was the year I figured out there couldn’t be a real Santa, all I got was a discount model tree ON Christmas Eve, an orange, and a knock-off Barbie, yet my friend got Pong, and another had more presents than I could count.

When I married the first time in 1982 the recession was still screaming, hub and I were young, broke, and with the baby still cooking the tree wasn’t the priority on the list. Hub and his friends went forth into the woods and found us a little, sparse, but, beautiful to me, slightly illegal, tree. I had real trees until I married this husband.

Although he barely, if ever, cleans any part of the house, he will not allow “his” money to be used for a real tree, because, wait for it, the needles. That he wouldn’t clean up anyway. And that I didn’t normally have a problem with because I’m smarter than a tree and *bonus!* know how to operate a vaccuum.

This year I am so not feeling the “thing” side of Christmas. I’m reaching the very, very, end of my ability to be miserable for my daughter’s happiness and the world is getting ready to come apart at the seams no matter what my cognitively dissonant husband’s dreams continue to be. Yep, Christmas and its overspending, materialism and excess, and I just don’t want it anymore.

For five bucks we took the entire family through the lightshow the other night. My daughter, having visited this show annually since birth, was becoming jaded and the grandbaby “oohed” and “oh, wow!’d” it back for us all.

Today, I’m going out to buy the food stuffs needed, then my wee one and I are going to spend a large part of the next few days singing Christmas songs, baking treats for friends and family, making a mess and hopefully having a great time. She is finally old enough to be more useful, not just fun and we’ve been talking about this weekend for weeks. I would be very happy if that was all there was to this season.

We set up the tree last night and I was tearful and moody and bitchy. Not only do I have no say in the tree, I am the one that ALWAYS has to haul the damn thing and assorted boxes down from the attic. I’ve gotten extremely good at the balancing act required for one person to haul it down, but thank god (again) for my son and his ability to help his mama. Blessedly ma bella was happy to take over after the lights were on the beast.

Yep, so not into it this year. I think I’m going to read the story of Jesus to my daughter this evening when I tuck her in. More connection to the real reason, and to replace my distaste of what this country has done to the day with love and hope.

Happy Solstice y’all, and my endearments are certainly not fake.

indialantic
indialantic

Fake Christmas trees is a legit economic indicator when compared to 2007. I dropped by a local, main street BK to have morning coffee/sandwich yesterday and I saw the following sign displayed on a shelf behind the cashier (that wasn’t there a few months ago):

NO LOITERING
1 HOUR MAXIMUM

Apparently, drifters/homeless “folks” have been using the dining area as a “day flop” and this particular store had had enough.

dilligaf

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ill be shocked if that pic works…..

Olga
Olga

Real Tree – the party to decorate it is Sunday.

I’ve already told the kids it’s pretty much a “socks and underwear” kind of year – a great dinner, some good movies, too much alcohol – and not much else.

IndenturedServant

We have two fake trees, a four footer and an 8 footer but most of the time we get a real tree. However, we almost always choose a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. It’s more fun. I keep hoping to get one with a live squirrel in it like the Griswold’s. It would be an epic present for the dogs!

Westcoaster
Westcoaster

After years of $35 “real” trees (with needles falling off on the ride home and increasingly thereafter), we finally opted for a “fake” tree. Big Lots had a couple of decent-looking fakes for $60. Although I’m not a fan of anything “fake” (and thanks for the confirmation of endearments, TE), and knowing I couldn’t get away with just shining on the xmas tree, we brought home the imposter, and know what? Once I put it together and we decorated it, you really can’t tell the fake from the real.
Considering the wife & I have a reasonable 10-20 more Christmas seasons in us, I think it was a good investment.
And for the record, decades ago I had a fake tree and the new models are MUCH easier to assemble!

Stucky

Real trees most of my life. There was a tree farm just a few miles from my house in MI …. $10 bucks if you cut it down yourself.

My parents had one family friend with a fake tree. Remember the fake trees from the early 1960s? Looked like a fuckin gigantic Fuller Brush.

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Stucky

” … you really can’t tell the fake from the real.” ——– Westcoaster

True … except NOTHING beats the SMELL of a fresh Christmas tree. That can’t be faked with some bullshit-pine-scent-in-a-can.

El Coyote
El Coyote

Stucky says:

” … you really can’t tell the fake from the real.” ——– Westcoaster

True … except NOTHING beats the SMELL of a fresh Christmas tree.

Thank you, I.W., nothing beats the smell of a real woman either. As Dr. Hall commented, the world would have become extinct if not for that smell.

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