I think after the turkey has been carved, the wishbone pulled and the Black Friday crowd weeps over their dwindling bank accounts, it’s safe to say the holiday season has officially begun. And with that season comes the onslaught of Christmas trees to living rooms all across America! Whether you’re putting up a real tree or an artificial one {for curiosity’s sake, are you a real tree or fake tree household?}, you’re probably making plans to get that tree trimmed. Or are you?
When do you put up your tree? November 1st? Is it up year-round? Do you wait until after Thanksgiving? Until a week before Christmas? And speaking of trees, how much do you spend on one? A friend said she paid about $100 for a real tree at a tree lot. That seems crazy high to me!! What’s the most you’ve paid? The least?
We’re thinking about getting ours up this week buuuut for the first time ever The Girl and I are considering harvesting our own in the woods. A small one, nothing too big. One we could chop down and haul off ourselves. Do you think we are crazy? Have you ever done that?
It seems so very Christmasy to trudge out into the snow and chop down our very own tree. But do I need a permit? A chainsaw? Will this be a logistical nightmare? Talk to me people. Am I chopping off more than I can chew or will it be the awesome experience I’m imagining it will be in my mind with all sorts of mother/daughter bonding and hot cocoa and carol singing?
Oh Christmas trees, who knew you could be so complicated? Well at least when I get one I’ll know how to keep it alive. Need some tips? Check out my post on How to Make Your Christmas Tree Last Longer!
Peace out,
~Mavis
P.S. My mother, she gave up real trees looooooong ago. These days, she’s all about the Christmas stick. And let me tell you, it’s just not the same. 😉 Love ya mom.
Jenny says
We did the cutting down in the forest before for a couple of years! It was $10 permit! We had to go higher up the mountain to find a noble, but their were great ones lower!
Sue R. says
Oregon’s permits for tree cutting are $5 so check in WA. A handsaw is adequate 🙂 You will have to drive a ways and it isn’t always easy to find a tree in the forest…it may look sort of Charlie Brown-ish…but at least once in everyone’s life, they should do it! Also it may not exactly fit your “frugalness” when you factor in gas/permit…but fun memories!
Martha says
Tree Farm all the way…when we went up to find a tree years ago we got stuck, no cell, long hike, long wait for a tow, and that $10 tree set us back $250!
JANE R PAPA says
I would never cut down a tree in the woods when there are so many left over trees for sale on lots at stores.Seems so wasteful. Trees in the woods are for wildlife.
Cheryl says
Totally agree! But then I don’t even put up a tree.
Cath says
Totally agree also! After I read ‘The hidden life of trees’ by a German forest manager guy – it made me view them in a whole different light.
Mary Ann says
When I was young, my boyfriend suggested we go into the forest and cut our own. I’ve never forgiven myself for killing a tree from the wild and that’s been over 30 years ago. At least the ones in the tree farms and lots are grown specifically to be cut and used for one month out of the year — leave the wild ones in the wild for all to enjoy, please.
KC says
We dearly love our decade-old $20 Target fake tree (the right height! looks pretty close to real! not too wide but also not too narrow to be tree-like! wire in the branches so you can floof them to your heart’s content!), but it’s starting to need repair and someday we’ll have to move on.
Real trees do have the scent going for them, and that’s a big one, but it’s lovely to just not have to deal with the watering and the drying out and (as much) needle shedding. Plus we don’t have to buy it every year – skipping the crowds and skipping the price.
If you have your own forest, or if friends have a forest: unless it’s protected land (which you or your friends should know, like you know your HOA rules…), cutting down a Christmas-tree-sized tree should not require a permit.
However, don’t go swiping trees from other people! There are tree farms if you want the experience, or apparently there at least used to be a permit process and some designated tree-cutting areas in park lands: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/heres-where-to-cut-your-own-christmas-tree-1/ – probably if you call them, they can update the information.
Erica says
We paid $10 to cut one down in the national forest in Colorado 10 years ago. It was really difficult to find a decent looking one, and chopping down a tall one so that you could use the top was not allowed. (We ended up needing to cut ours anyway to fit it in our living room.) In the end, it was kind of ugly and hard to decorate. To top it all off, my husband and I realized we were allergic to it and stayed out of that room for a month!
Leanna says
We grew up with a real tree every year but my mom wouldn’t put it up until about 5 days before Christmas because it’s so dry here. Our first few years of marriage we had real. After we purchased our home (24 years ago) we bought an artificial one from Ralph Jones Display (a local place that caters to large companies). We still use it but the needles are dropping more frequently. I always put the tree up on Black Friday (no shopping for me) and take it down on Epiphany (Jan 6). Our current tree was $250 and is 7′ 6″ real ones start at about $50 here.
Marcia says
Growing up we always had a real tree. I grew up in the Northeast, in an area with a lot of woods, so we cut them down ourselves. Some years we went to my uncle’s house, where his back yard was basically planted with future Christmas trees.
At some point we switched to a fake tree. I felt so grown up when at the age of 24 I bought my $100 fake tree. My husband’s family is a real tree family, and they get the tree on the 23rd so it’s fresh (from a tree farm or store) because they LIGHT CANDLES on the tree.
Then I started hearing of the dangers of outgassing on the fake trees. I told my friends that my tree is so old, it’s already outgassed. Anyway, still rockin’ the 1994 fake tree. Usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Too tired from our travels, will do it tonight.
TJD says
Fresh. Tree farm, u-cut or they cut. Usually spend about 10-20.00 (7-10 feet) I like to support the local farmers. I live in Oregon. Christmas trees are a big industry here. Love the whole experience.
Lori says
I went artificial about 8 years ago. I went kicking and screaming into it, but I don’t regret it. I paid after Christmas prices for my pre-lit artificial tree. I can leave it up as long as I want, I don’t have to mess with lights and no dropped needles to clean up. I can always get some pine boughs for the pine smell that I love with a real tree, but I had a few years when the tree was so dry by Christmas I was afraid to light it. I save money and I have less stress.
Patty P says
We pretty much always had a fake tree while we were growing up. Our first “real” tree was at the end of my HS years when I painted a bunch of Christmas bulbs for a Christmas tree seller and got a huge discount on a tree. My mom and dad have vaulted ceilings, so we got a huge tree…it was pretty awesome. HOWEVER, I break out in hives when I touch real evergreen trees, so I’ve always had a fake tree in my house. I had a pre-lit tree (I thought this was a great idea at the time…plus I bought it on after Christmas clearance once year, so it was cheap). Well, this year none of the pre-lit pieces would light (even with bulb swapping), so I broke down and took the pre-lit pieces out, and put regular lights on. The tree still looks great!
Cathy says
We use to cut a large tree off my grandfather’s property chainsaw needed we would take the top for a tree, the lower branches for wreaths and roping. Chop the wood up load it in the truck for the bon fire beside the pond for when the pond froze over and we could skate. Ahh memories now a fake tree because of an allergic person.
Stephanie says
Real tree all the way! Growing up getting a tree was one of my favorite things. I still love it! When our kids were little we got a permit and went up in the hills to get a tree. It’s such a romantic idea but in reality the kids were cold and tired in short order and there was the time we got stuck in the snow or the last year we ended up buying a tree from a lot on the way home.
Still good memories!
This year we went to a tree farm and paid more than I ever remember $36!!! It is beautiful. It’s a nordman? new to me but it’s supposed to not shed so many needles.
Carole says
We cut our own tree one year. It was tons of fun, very cold out. The tree was so huge but the kids picked “that one daddy” so daddy cut it down. No fee that year. We hauled it home and decorated it. We still talk about that tree. So do it, it will be one if those memories you have forever.
Susan says
We’ve had a fake tree for at least 20 years. Also the $20-ish Target after Christmas 90% off tree 🙂
i\It does drop “needles” but is still in good shape. I have a $1.99 fibre optic tabletop tree put away for when we are really old and can literally just take it out of the box and voila….instant Christmas 🙂
Katherine says
We have not had a real tree in years. Once my kids were old enough they started asking for cash or gift cards we stopped putting a tree up because I can’t stand a tree with no wrapped packages. So for a few years I decorated our Norfolk pine and I’ve even used potted Rosemary topiary’s as Christmas trees. Now that I have grandchildren, 4 year old twins, we purchased an artificial pre-lit tree. To make it smell good, I go to Home Depot and/or Lowes and get free cuttings from the tree’s they sell and put them in vases throughout the house.
I’ve read in several news articles that the supply of live tree’s will not meet the demand this year. That means they will cost more. Buy a tree with a root ball and plant it in your yard or near local woods for the wildlife to enjoy.
Susie says
Same here. Love getting the (free) pine cuttings from Home Depot, Lowe’s, or Target to put in baskets on the front porch to greet visitors with the scent and around the house. Stopped putting up the large artificial tree a couple of years ago & just put up a small 4′ tree. This year, we won’t be here for Christmas so just decorating our forest of banana trees out front (yes, banana trees – we’re in Florida) with huge Christmas ball, big bows on the carriage lights, wreath on the door, and stockings on the ledge we pretend is a mantle.
Alexis says
You can totally go out and cut one down — here’s where to look for info: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/okawen/passes-permits/forestproducts/?cid=fsbdev3_053596
The long and short is that it’s a $5 permit (unless you have a 4th grader – then it’s free!) and there are some restrictions, but it could definitely be fun. I haven’t done it yet – we opt for local tree farms. We’re not the most outdoorsy family ever.
Growing up we had a mix of real and fake trees. Since my son came along we started with a fake tree (saving money and all that – got it for $20 off of Craigslist – was almost 10ft tall!!!) but have decided we do enjoy the fun of a real tree (yes, fun). As a family we bundle up, go to a tree farm and search for the perfect tree. One that’s a bit taller than me and fat, with lots of strong branches and no big bald spots (though a few bigger spaces are needed for ornaments). Then my husband gets down in the mud and cuts it down.
We bring it home, I put on my lights and the kids help put up our treasure trove of memory ornaments. We usually get our tree the 1st week of December and it honestly lasts until well after New Year’s and only starts drying out around then.
Maybe one day we’ll go artificial, but for now I like the bonding experience + the smells it brings to the house.
Jumbe says
We did either the national forest or a tree farm (which back then was also usually just someone’s forest) every year when I was little (the 70’s) The key is the giant coffee thermos of very hot hot cocoa. In Washington, in the 70’s, the permit was 5$. I don’t know what it costs now as hubby is a buy it at Home Depot kinda guy. Sigh. And yes they are hard to find in the national forest, most are too big or too scrawny. Also, you will likely bring back one that is WAY larger than you think it is if you’re not careful about it. We had vaulted ceilings in that 70s house and still always needed to shorten the sucker by quite a lot. If you go happy hiking! I let some little volunteer trees in our yard grow big with the idea of harvesting them for Christmas, but my daughter has fallen in love with them and won’t let me cut them. They are a bit close to the house if I were to let them grow to full size so now I have a dilemma.
Cindi says
We cut one out of the national forest every year. $8 for a permit. It’s an annual tradition to go tromping out in the woods, looking for THE tree. I like big trees, but could never afford to buy a 12-footer (the size we usually get) from a lot. Sure, none of them are ever perfect, but I think the imperfections are part of the charm.
You shouldn’t need a chainsaw, unless you’re cutting a real monster. We saw ours down with a bow saw. The average trunk is only a few inches diameter.
Jenny says
This year ours was free since my husband’s family is friends with the tree farm people. Most year’s I get trees at the hardware store. The trees are about between 20 and 35. This year they were 65. So we went to the tree farm, normal price there is 20 for a long needle pine and 25 for a short needle. We used to do the fake tree but they bothered my skin when I was putting it together. I would get horrible rashes all over my arms.
Jenn says
Go for the real tree experience! We did for years and had a blast. Here is Colorado it is a $10 per it and a LOT of snow, on that dress in layers, pack hand warmers and cocoa and water. Also, Take a compass or make a path from where you are loading the tree onto your car. Again here the woods are thick and snowy, getting lost would stink. Rope, a knife ( hand saw for the tree) to cut the rope and a red kerchief to tie on your tree.The real trees do tend to be more Charlie Brownish then not, so don’t get to caught up in the perfect tree hunt.
Finally, we always ended with a warm toddy and watching National Lampoon s Christmas….
Happy hunting if you do it!
Susie says
We always have gotten a permit to cut a spruce in the national Forest. $10 in Wyoming. It cost some in gas but my husband is always going to the mountains. My girls keep begging for us to go buy one from the store because they think ours are ugly, but I love them.
leslie says
We just moved from Arlington, WA (near Darrington- home of Christmas tree farms every mile). Trees are actually very expensive at the farms because they are counting on ‘city folk’ to pay the big bucks for a tree and the farm experience (hot chocolate and sleigh rides). We always went into the forest and paid $10 for a permit.
Kids are older and aren’t as enthused to go up the mountain anymore, so we have a fake tree, which I like too.
If you haven’t had the tree farm or mountain experience, it really is fun
Sue says
I don’t do Christmas, but if I did, I would string some lights and ornaments on an actual fir or pine tree in my yard (planted for that purpose if needed). Presents would stay indoors of course. They would look fine under a wreath or garland, no indoor tree needed.
Holly says
Currently we have a free fake tree from Craigslist. People post them all the time for free. The best looking real tree we had was from Costco. Pretty cheap too. A bunch of people I know have trees in pots and bring them in for Christmas then wheel them back outside for the rest of the year. I really like that idea but since I have a black thumb it would die. 😉
Libby says
Southern New Englander here – real tree and pay between $5 and $10 each year. We cut down at a local farm. Bow saw is the best. Bring leather/gardening gloves. Since the tree goes into a corner, we choose a cheap tree with a bad side. Boy Scouts have a fundraiser and pick up the old trees after Xmas.
My favorite thing to do is lay on my back underneath the decorated tree and look up through the branches.
Ramona says
I have had a fake tree for 12 years now. I like real trees but not the cost and the way they get “pruned” to get their shape. I like the branches to be natural and not cut. My favorite trees came from Chubby and Tubby, does any one remember the 2 variety stores in Seattle area? One on Aurora and one south of town. They had $5.00 trees. Last time I bought one before they closed for good was $10.00.
Sharon@MLT says
Chubby and Tubby! There’s a blast from the past. I went to the Aurora location. Never got a Christmas tree there though.
Emily says
I love the look and smell of real trees and they’re only $35 at our local grocery store. That said, my husband had a traumatic childhood experience involving a toppled real tree, so I will probably never have one. My parents gifted us their old fake tree when they downsized, so that pretty much sealed the deal. I will just have to hang out at the tree lot when I want my real pine smells.
Athena says
My parents, the grandkids, my brother and his wife went to cut a tree a few years ago. They are in Idaho but did need to get a permit. Even with the permit they had to follow certain guidelines about the tree they could cut. I agree with someone else that you should do it at least once but be prepared! They got stuck in the snow and would have been there all day had it not been for someone happening to drive by. They were in the middle of nowhere, no cell service, no way to contact anyone and were on a little travelled road. The person who happened by called the forest service who came and pulled them out. I think they made the best of it for the grandkids’ sakes but it was definitely not the idyllic trip they had in their minds!
andrea d says
We are one of those families who spends @$100 on a real tree- BUT it comes with the root ball and we plant it on our property after Christmas so we consider it worth the expense. If we didn’t do that I would probably still get a real tree. I think they are usually around $20 and up- wouldn’t want to spend more than that. (I would probably cut one of our old ones down and use that first).
I live in an area with numerous tree farms where you can go and cut down your own tree. Not sure about going into a random forest; the thought never would have crossed my mind.
nancy says
We pay about 30 dollars for a tree. And yes, real. We have always bought cut ones and I feel it is similar to buying produce at a farmers market. The money goes to a farmer who all year grew that tree for this specific purpose and this is his way to feed his family. However, I just love the idea of cutting one down. It would make great memories.
Trish says
I have done both but prefer a real tree. You have to struggle more (in my opinion) to get up the fake ones. You have to store it properly and it takes up a lot of space I don’t have. The past several years, we have let out kids go out and select one of our property (with a little guidance) so permits haven’t been an issue. In the younger years, it’s about their experience and less about the fullness of the tree which is good because they’re usually pretty sparse. We put the carcass in the chicken yard when it’s all over and they enjoy it for a while. Once they’ve had their fill, it gets chopped and put into the fire pit for us to enjoy once more. Even if we spent the $20-30 for a good looking precut or farm tree, it’s worth what you get out of it. If nothing else, the smell is wonderful. We usually put ours up the second week of December and take it down shortly after Christmas but we don’t travel for the holiday either.
Wendy says
Mavis, I’d be really careful bringing home a tree you just chopped down. We had some friends who did that, only to find the next day they had an insect infestation! It’s just not worth it, to me. I’ll stick with my artificial tree I bought on sale after the season.
KAYTHEGARDENER says
I ask at Xmas tree lots in mid Dec for several leftover branches. Decorate & there’s a swag for the front door! More serve as background for the mantel piece shelf & holiday table… I also make a tinsel tree outline on the wall to surround holiday cards.
That leaves more time for the Christmas baking.
Grandma no longer hosts dinners in her smaller apt, but we meet at the house with the young grandchild, so he can be put to bed when tired.
Angela D. says
We take the kids to a local tree farm every year. It’s the whole experience: the wagon ride out to the woods is pulled by three draft horses wearing jingle bells, the driver is very knowledgeable and funny, kids can visit Santa in the barn, hot cocoa and cider for sale, pony rides, wreaths for purchase, etc. Each year the price goes up, per foot of tree and species, with Frasiers costing the most. We usually get an 8 foot tree for around $75 (here in Wisconsin.) Each year the kids look forward to seeing the huge horses, Duke, Dick and Dock. They allow photo opportunites and provide saws, too. I’m also grateful that they have a shaking machine, to clean out the tree and netting to wrap it up tight. A couple of years back, I fell in love with a darling 4 foot tree, completely dead and brown. They let me have it for free! Of course, I didn’t put lights on it, but I decorated it in a Primitive style and it was gorgeous! Watering a live tree twice a day for the first week or so is not my favorite chore, but 4 out of the last 12 years our tree was still actively drinking water all through January and into February. So, we took down the Christmas decorations and redecorated the tree in a Valentine’s theme-the kids loved it! We each had a “mailbox” under the tree and we stuffed love notes and small goodies into each other’s boxes.
Katharine says
If you don’t have your heart set on a full-sized tree, do what my parents do and take a handsaw out and cut a big branch off of a tree and use it as a mini tree on a coffee or end table! Tree gets to live, less work for you, smells like the real thing!
SilverReader says
We have a beautiful fir in the front yard that we deck every year with lights. I miss all the ornaments (too much wind to safely put them out) but the house doesn’t have anywhere with near enough room to put a full tree so this is the best compromise.
When we bought ours we always bought them from a tree lot or local tree farm depending on where we lived. They’re farmed like every other plant, no more destructive to nature than growing squash. Typical price was between $25-35. Up where we lived it is common practice to haggle and not just take the sticker price.
Dale Ann Widen says
Every once in a while we will buy a tree…mostly on years the snow is too deep to trudge through our Minnesota woods (though I did have DH, dad, and myself hike on snowshoes for over 2 hours to find a tree one year) or the temps have a high in the minus digits (making for very brittle branches when tree felling). We paid anywhere from $15 – $45.
But the real tradition in our family is to trudge through the woods to find the perfect tree, something many generations have done. It may be on the many acres the family owns…or it may be off our humble acreage here at home. I don’t believe we have ever used a chainsaw…not even for our larger 14′ trees. A mere bow saw is all the men folk have used. Then two of us…one at the top and one at the base…carry our prize tree out of the woods.
We always remember to carry it out base first to make those branches easier to glide past and minimize breakage as we make our way past other trees and brush, and to wear clothes and gloves we don’t mind getting sticky pitch on.
Julie says
I grow my own trees. (Kind-of: nature does all the work.) I have two large fir trees in my yard (100+ feet) and due to them, volunteer trees have sprouted in my yard as well as my neighbors yards. For the past many years, we have cut down the volunteers in the neighbors yards for our Christmas trees. (Thanks neighbors for “hosting” those trees until the holidays!) The volunteers in my yard have been put into pots so we wouldn’t have to dig out the root system after harvesting. This is our first year for having a tree from my yard and I’ve got three more years worth in pots.
Michelle says
Go high into the mountains and get a real tree! Dress for snow, take some snacks and cocoa and make a day of it! Good day or bad, you’ll have the memory.
Lisa Scott says
Growing up we always had an artificial tree. So when I got married I wanted a real tree. So we got a real one and it was nice. The day after Christmas I noticed a funny spot on my ceiling and on my drapes. Turns out the warmth of my house caused a spiders nest in the tree to hatch!! I had THOUSANDS of teeny tiny spiders crawling all over my living room!! In about 5 seconds I had that tree thrown out my door and onto my front yard where I took all the ornaments off and vacuumed my living room for 3 hours to make sure I had rid my home of every last spider! It makes me shutter to think of it even now, 20 years later!!
Jenny Young says
I didn’t know you could go into the woods & cut down a tree! That is so cool.
We’re a fake tree family because of allergies. I can’t have a lot of cut flowers or branches or burn candles either….which is a huge bummer to me sometimes but I do love my family more. But here’s a little history of our trees…..
Growing up we always had fake trees. We even had one of those cool silver tinsel looking trees!
While dh & I were dating we used to go into the woods on his parents farm & cut down their family tree together. We always got one way too big & had to cut half off the bottom to get it short enough to work. Some of our best memories of Christmas even though all we could get were the prickly cedars in the Missouri Ozarks.
As newlyweds we always bought a cut tree from a tree lot. I loved those days! Coming home to the smell of Christmas was awesome. One year we bought a tree with friends & left it at their house while we went out to do more shopping. We came back to find they had hung our tree upside down in their yard…way up high like you hide your food from bears! It took us forever to find it & we all thought it was the best joke.
After our son developed such bad allergies we’ve used fake trees & now that I’m older I’m perfectly happy with them. Now I go into our woods & dig up a little cedar for my front porch. I still get my little bit of real Christmas without everyone else being miserable.
But if you’ve never cut down a tree & brought home yourself you need to do that at least once your life. It really is a great memory making thing to do….even if sometimes it doesn’t go quite like you imagine.
Leslie says
Fake tree all the way! Had a real tree twice- one in college that was given to me, and once when my sister requested it (we had a root ball on that one) and hated both.
AlysonRR says
I’d love a good artificial tree because every other year it seems we get a tree to which I am allergic! But the family won’t consider it, so I just keep my fingers crossed every year.
This year we have some trees in the yard that are almost big enough – we my just cut one and save the $.