Real tree or not, does it depend on your childhood?

They were certainly around in the 40’s and 50’s and possibly much earlier than that.

In England yes, lemongrove but in Scotland Christmas Day was not even a public holiday in my childhood and a tree was regarded as foreign - even Germanic . This was 1947.

BlueBelle fake news! ?there were fake trees around, you probably just didn’t see or notice them.

I have a lovely photograph of my two year old self standing on a chair next to the artificial Christmas tree. This was in 1945. I doubt the tree was new then, so artificial trees have been around for many years. My mother used the same tree for the rest of her life. After my marriage we had a real tree. These days the tree is artificial. So no, I don't think childhood trees influenced me one way or the other. My adult children have always had a real tree though.

We always had an artificial tree, a small one, and I didn’t know
Anyone who had a real one.They were certainly around in the
40’s and 50’s and possibly much earlier than that.
To have a real tree would mean you either lived closeby where fir trees grew and could fell and drag one home, or you were middle class and had a car and a Father who was willing to drive somewhere to buy one and put it on the roof rack.
Only one person in our street had a car ( a black morris minor) and he was much looked up to.?
When married we bought real ones ( because we had a car!)
And that continued until the children grew up, left home and married, after that, we were happy to dispense with pulling needles out of our feet and the cat’s paws and bought artificial
Ones ever since.

There were no such thing as fake trees when I grew up nor was there fake candles just the real thing in little metal clips
I can’t afford a real tree now or the practicalities (no car) so I use the one I ve had for years still looks nice though One of my children always gets a real one but the other two have fake

I don’t think it’s anything to do with what you had as a child but what practicalities allow

Always had real and as a child we had real candles too , they came from Germany as did the candle holders which clipped on to the branches. The final year of the real candies was the year a candle fell into a box of wrapping paper and Mum just grabbed it and put it out with her bare hands. Poor thing, both hands were dreadfully blistered and given that Dad was a total klutz in the kitchen and I was still small, I have no idea how she got through Christmas Day.
H&S would have had a fit (good thing Grandad is not still here!)
The first year they were married nobody in their little Scottish town had a Christmas tree and they crept out late on night armed with a trusty chopper and “liberated” one from a nearby estate. ??
In years to come they became close friends with the factor (manager?) of that estate and a tree was delivered with his compliments every December.

We've had fake trees over the years for practical reasons but I really don't like them.

DD has a wooden one - it's very different but looks very effective.

My sister has baubles on her tree that she puts tea light candles in, they look fabulous

biba70

"Real candles on it, of course" ??

And how long do they stay alight for, exactly? A few minutes, just long enough to get the photos, or until the little birthday cake candles have melted down in the clip on holders?

Surely you can't have full size taper candles dotted throughout your Nordman fir (or whatever variety you have) left unattended whilst you roast your aged rib?

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Grandparents had real trees, my parents had really naff fake trees.

I have always had a main real tree in sitting room along with mini potted trees around the house. In the dining room my indulgent tree is an artificial 3 foot tree decorated with my collection of Swarovski snowflakes.

Jaxjacky I was trying to remember that stuff as we had some too. Also brother and I got the job of throwing cotton wool over the tree. I hated the feel of the damn stuff as we tore it off a roll. ( nails on a blackboard effect )

Interesting reading, thank you, thinking about my family tree, I just remembered the fun throwing lametta on it, not sure if you can still get it, will have a look.

Always a real one that went up on christmas eve and came down on the 6th jan, they were the 12 days of christmas!...... No time for the tree to dry out and make a mess!
Now with artificial trees and all the shops it lasts for many weeks!

I’m a child of the sixties, and we had a real tree, but my Nanna had that most stylish accessory of the time , a silver tinsel tree - we were so jealous, but my parents never relented and let us have one.

We dug ours out of the garden each year, it seemed to be alright and was quite prickly as I remember. The same old decorations, but looking back they were lovely, the glass baubles with indented flower patterns. Candles were lit which were clamped at the ends of the branches and a fairy was always perched on the top.
Tinsel was a bit moth-eaten but I do remember loads of little icicles and there'd always be one left on the tree when it was replanted.

I was born before WW11 and I did not know anyone who had a real tree.
We, and all our friends had very small artificial trees which probably stood on a sideboard or a small table.
The bulbs on the tree were large and provided only about 12.
I was brought up in a mining village and we did not have electricity until much later.People would have lit tiny candles but we never did, although we did on the village school tree.
Each class, 4, had their own tree and then a larger one in the space created by folding back the screens between the classrooms.
It was a magical time for us all in the shadow of the war.

When I married it was always a real tree until we got a kitten, that tells it’s own story.

We always had a real tree when I was growing up and we always have a real tree now.
Interestingly by DSs and DILs have realistic, but artificial ones.
I think they don’t like the needle drop.

We always had a real tree then my parents bought an artificial one when they were older.
We always had a real one until one shed all its needles by Christmas Eve and we had to buy an artificial at the last minute.

This year we may bring in a small real one from the garden (it's in the wrong place).

We always had a real tree, when I left school I bought a silver 6 ft Christmas tree as a surprise for my poor mother, she must have been horrified, but she very graciously allowed me to take it with me when I left home!
Artificial for us as DH is very allergic to Christmas trees

I don't think the trees people had as a child influence what they have now all that much, or everyone would have a real one. We always had a real one, because I don't think artificial trees had been invented then. For our first Christmas we had a branch off a (deciduous, therefore leafless) forest tree, painted white and with a few baubles tied tastefully (and cheaply) onto it. We then had real trees for a few years, keeping them upright on their cut trunks with great difficulty, and finally bought the excellent artificial one that has been in use ever since, for forty years at least.

We had real when I was wee and for the first few years afterI marriedChanged to a fake one after my friends toddler decided to climb the 7 foot tree and the fox terrier pup copied him.That would have been fine if it was once but the pup climbed it every day ,several times some days and the poor tree had no needles by the end of that week.The new fake tree bought the following week didn't have the same attraction thankfully.Now we have a pencil type tree and its very elegant

Silverlining you can get fake candle lights now. I bought some last year and they are lovely! These are out of stock but are the same. www.lights4fun.co.uk/products/20-warm-white-led-connectable-christmas-tree-candle-lights

Marmight it’s nice to ‘see’ you! I haven’t noticed you around for a while, although I’ve not been here much myself, either.

Husband had real, I had artificial. They didn't look real in those days ...really thick branches. I prefer real but only had a real one once in our young married days. With both working right up to Christmas Eve and entertaining 15 on Christmas day, we just didn't have the time or money to spend each year on a new tree. These days we have a really good quality artificial one which comes out every year and gives us good vibes as we decorate it and looks good in our chosen spot. Nothing beats the real thing though.

Our tree at home was a very old threadbare thing, less than 3 feet tall I bet. No lights obviously but my mum dressed it up and it always looked lovely. We have almost always had an artificial tree apart from one or two years. We’ve bought a real one this year, I know the needles are a nuisance and all that but I do like the smell and the realness!

Real Tree for me. My children when they were younger loved picking the tree, and then decorating it.
My son keeps up the tradition with a real tree, and my daughter is going to move so will have a artificial one this year. She said she will get a real one in her new home.