I was wondering this as buying real ones yearly get sometimes pretty pricey
When I can, I get a real tree. After Christmas, I trim all the leaves and branches off the trunk and put those in the municipal compost bin. I then put the trunk in storage and let it dry out for a year or two. Once dry, I’ll carve them into things like walking sticks, wizard staffs, etc.
Name checks out
That’s fucking rad
Thanks! Here’s an example. That’s me on the left, my husband on the right.
I made both that walking stick and wizard staff from old Christmas trees. And a close up view of the staff:
Sickkkk. How long do they take to make?
The walking stick was an afternoon project. Just carve, sand, and stain. The staff was a lot harder, specifically the tines that wind around the crystal. I made the staff off and on for several months. I built the tines up by cutting out thin strips of wood. Then I glued them together, laminating the tines up one layer at a time. Once they’re built up, I carved them into a smooth shape and filled in cracks in the epoxy. The amethyst is affixed into the socket I carved with epoxy as well.
I could have made the staff faster if I was really pushing it out. But just the time to glue it up would still require about 2 week to make.
Artisanal! I love it!
Never bothered with putting a tree up, but I’ve always kinda wanted to steal this idea:
I gotta say…
This was a triumph.
I’m making a note here: “huge success”
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Real f’sure.
A lot of states sell Christmas tree permits every year, so for 5-10 bucks plus gas I can harvest my own tree(s) sustainably.
It’s rad.
If you can’t find yourself in any of the states above, it’s likely you live in a state with state-run Christmas tree programs. Texas, Oklahoma, any state not in the half of the US listed above will have other state resources for Christmas tree permits and many private tree farms, which are maybe 10 dollars more but offer the same service:
Buy a permit, drive there, choose a tree, chop it down, take it home.
Thats what we do! 30-45 minute drive and we can get noble firs.
Heck yea! A satisfying quest all around.
Haven’t done this, but I’ve known people who do. Beats the tree lots.
Never heard of this. Probably because the nearest are hours away.
Nope, centrally located because the whole point of the program is sustainably harvested trees accessible to civilians.
You can check the linked locations above.
When I used the site it said the closest locations are national forests but none of the ones close to me.
I looked at the full list and there are zero locations in my state. Tons in the western US so I assume that’s where you live.
Nope, but I understand your assumptions.
The US has conifers everywhere, and the link above is for a single collective of federally managed public lands, but does not include every other state-run and private organization that sells Christmas tree permits across the US.
If you can’t find yourself in any of the states above, it’s likely you live in a state with state-run Christmas tree programs. Texas, Oklahoma, any state not in the half of the US listed above will have other state resources for Christmas tree permits and many private tree farms, which are maybe 10 dollars more but offer the same service:
Buy a permit, drive there, choose a tree, chop it down, take it home.
Interesting. My state does offer this. Closest is still about an hour out; not much further than I go now.
Made a note to look into this next holiday season. Thanks!
Awesome, you got it!
I’ve also added the state programs information to my original comment, so I’m glad you brought it up.
I was kind of blown away when i first found about this and got into a long talk with a ranger who explained it all to me, so I certainly understand your skepticism.
Up until that point, I literally knew nobody who cut down their own Christmas trees, and now a few of my friends also get their own trees every year.
6 foot trees have fairly thin trunks, so all you need is any trail saw, I’ve even used a hatchet, and you’ll harvest the tree in a manner of minutes.
Fake one. Bought it a decade ago and its still doing just fine.
Real, but I keep it in a pot and it goes outside the rest of the year. It’s about 3.5’ tall at the moment and gets a little bigger each year. I’ve had it for 4 years now
That sounds excellent… i might pitch that to my wife for next year.
I am surprised at how many artificial tree users there are. Way more than I expected.
I have mostly lived where I could just go get a real one from the woods if I wanted to, so I guess that gives me a bias. If I couldn’t have a real tree, I dont think I would want one at all.
I am not much into christmas, but the whole bringing a tree home with a connection to nature makes it worthwhile. Love the smell of a fresh tree too.
Never had issues with needles or bugs so I find that strange as well. I mean sure, the tree drops some needles at the end, but that is what the skirt is for. The few outside of that is just a single day of vacuuming that you would be doing anyways.
I am surprised at how many artificial tree users there are. Way more than I expected.
I am not much into christmas, but the whole bringing a tree home with a connection to nature makes it worthwhile. Love the smell of a fresh tree too.
Also the whole no microplastics being generated thing. You’d think that since that discovery was made people would be quicker to choose non-plastic and yet here we are.
We always had an artificial one growing up, but if I ever buy a Christmas tree myself I’ll buy a real one.
Same. This comment section is so bizarre to me.
I’ve always had real trees. I love the smell too much to go with a fake one. And I agree, there’s something magical and nostalgic about the whole process of picking out a tree, and tying it to the top of your car to take to your house. It’s part of the Christmas tradition.
Not sure how real this survey is, but they say 83% of households do a fake tree.
https://wror.com/2025/11/18/fake-christmas-trees-are-preferred-over-real-trees-by-a-big-percentage/
Wow. That’s crazy to me. What’s the point?
I assume because it’s cheaper and easier, but I was surprised to hear that too.
I haven’t had or put up a Christmas tree since I was a child. I don’t see the point. I don’t do any seasonal decorations. Time moves so fast that it’s like a week later I’m taking down a bunch of shit I paid money for and can barely use.
We started putting our shit up almost immediately after Halloween. I don’t mind all the gaudy bullshit, just the work and storage space. I just want to put up projector lights. My wife complains that they look like someone didn’t put any effort in — I said that’s exactly why I like them. At least we were able to agree on a prelit tree with no extra ornaments. I do miss the extravagant trees my grandma put up when I was little but it’s so much breakable glass shit.
Last year I put up permanent Govee lights. They were pretty good but then we had our roof redone this fall and I noticed half of them don’t work now. C’est la vie.
I get where you are coming from, but I find holiday decorations to be one of the highlights of an otherwise crummy season.
Winter is so depressing. It is cold and dark all the time. It is fun to come home to a bunch of silly lights everywhere. I leave mine up for a few weeks past Christmas. If you ask me, the tree should stay up until the first day of spring.
Yeah, fun sucks
Neither
I feel like I’m “not allowed” either.
I grew up in a very religious household/extended family. When I was 19, I became agnostic. But I actually really enjoy the Christmas season and decorations. It doesn’t have a religious tie to me, but it has a nostalgic tie to me.
My husband is VERY jaded/exhausted/raged by Christianity as a whole. Their very existence pisses him off. So naturally, Christmas pisses him off.
But in a fantasy world where we could all get past this bullshit – I’d honestly be happy with either. I grew up with artificial trees, but real trees always seemed better. But killing trees to be a decoration in your home for a month seems wrong…
Final answer- artificial tree would be my choice if I decorated.
While I certainly feel the rage, the tree is yet another decoration the Christians copped from the pagans they sought to drown out. It’s yule, not what Jesus put in his home for his birthday (not that he was actually born in the winter anyway, they rewrote that too). Eggs and bunnies are pagan fertility things, not what phasewalker Jesus handed out from the tomb.
While I know it’s clearly a Christian symbol now, you can’t change what makes you nostalgic.
Anyway, I don’t know about everyone else, but it was only this summer I learned that “pagan” just means ANY religion that isn’t Christian. I assume it’s more the various Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo sects in the European Christian range.
It doesn’t have to be a religious celebration. Just copy the USSR and celebrate the parts of Christmas you want (putting up a tree, gift exchanges) on New Years.
we’ve used artificial for at least the last 9 years now. Less cleanup, less expensive and easy to setup
Doesn’t feel like Christmas without the smell of a real tree. I go out back and cut a small one.
Real.
Cut it down at a tree farm that has a Santa workshop.
Aluminum pole. No tinsel. It’s distracting.
Number one cause of house fires around Christmas time, dry trees in homes. We put up the same artificial tree every year.
I bought an artificial one second-hand which felt like the most sustainable option - not cutting a tree down every year and not paying for virgin plastic either. Charity shops here are usually filled with pretty nice ones since a lot of people seem to replace their plastic trees far more frequently than they should.
