No deep thoughts here. Just mild curiosity. We at Grumpy Rumblings will not judge your tree choice one way or the other.
If you celebrate Christmas, what’s your tree? Real? Fake? Green? White? Cut? Potted? Do you pick it out each year or pull it out of storage? In Los Angeles there’s a service where you can rent a potted real tree for the season and they set it up and drop it off for you. I think you can find anything you could possibly want for purchase in Los Angeles.
Do you collect ornaments one at a time? Do have perfectly matched sets?
#1: We buy a small rosemary bush cut into the shape of a tree. Each year I’m optimistic it will stay alive after we plant it, but each year we are disappointed. This year I’m gonna try to buy late and plant on the 26th instead of waiting for epiphany. We have a small collection of ornaments given to us by DH’s relatives. (They say: “First Christmas together” “Baby’s First Christmas” and so on. Also a bunch of homemade ornaments from DH’s Grandma. I really like these.)
#2: No tree this year. Visiting family in real cities for the holidays! I will enjoy their trees.
And obviously we should have posted this query earlier because we’ve totally been scooped by Lindy Mint and Molly on Money and now A Gai Shan Life. Tell us anyway, or just link to your tree posts in the comments!
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
December 16, 2010 at 3:29 am
There was/is a tradition in my extended family to buy nice ornaments as Christmas presents, so I have a hodgepodge of ornaments from different people. In general, the people on my husband’s side of the family buy ornaments that they think we’d like (like the lecruset pot ornament). The people on my side of the family buy things that they like and give them to us (like animal/pet ornaments even though we have no pets).
Our tree is real. I keep meaning to look at an after christmas sale for a fake one but it doesn’t ever seem to happen. A couple of years we actually went to a farm and chopped one down.
My friend Ken used to have a tree farm but he died last year, so cutting trees is a bittersweet memory for me.
December 16, 2010 at 6:19 am
I’m going to spray paint my tree like Lindy Mint- that’s got to kill the mouse pee smell!
December 16, 2010 at 6:20 am
ROFL!
December 16, 2010 at 8:21 am
Good idea Molly. It will be like a whole new tree, sans the scent.
December 16, 2010 at 8:23 am
Due to allergies, our tree is green and fake. We got it our first year of marriage, so it is having its 20th birthday this year. (Happy Birthday tree)
Ours is decorated with a hodgepodge of ornaments from over the years. Ornaments from the kid’s preschool, from my childhood, from my grandma, you name it. No theme, just memories. I even found some tinsel this year and put some on!
December 16, 2010 at 8:36 am
This year, none, which is my preference. But every other year my mom has sent me that same baby rosemary tree you have. I killed the first one by keeping it in the pot too long (they dry out really fast in pots, I guess?) and felt incredibly guilty. The rest I planted sooner and they did pretty well.
One of my friends grew up putting presents around a Buddha. I think that’s more my speed now.
December 16, 2010 at 10:09 am
Or you could just get a lot of winter greenery and celebrate Solstice.
December 16, 2010 at 9:48 am
A real green tree picked out for $32 at my local Home Depot. Totally unromantic I guess but it works for me and my kids. It’s got no odor to it and looks like a bunch of rainbows vomited on it. I have a ton of different ornaments that don’t match. I try and buy the kids special ornaments every year. This year the two year old’s clone trooper lasted two whole minutes before it smashed to the floor in a million pieces. I’m still debating replacing it. And I buy myself something new most years too. I haven’t made an ornament in several years even though I completely have the ability.
December 16, 2010 at 10:08 am
I think everyone’s tree ends up being a hodgepodge. That’s what makes them interesting; tracing the passage of time and memories through the random assortment of ornaments!
December 16, 2010 at 10:10 am
Not everyone! Some folks toss stuff out and only buy matching ornaments. Heck, you can even buy pre-decorated trees!
December 16, 2010 at 9:54 am
real tree. Fir, Douglas or Frasier. Can’t bet a decent blue spruce around my parts, that’s the queen of trees.
ornaments are not matched, no! heavens forfend. the point of xmas ornaments are that you collect them over the years…
December 16, 2010 at 10:37 am
I have a 2.5-ft tall fake tree that’s older than I am (hand-me-down!) and it looked like a sad Charlie Brown-esque display on our side-table in the living room until I hit up the dollar store for some cheap decor. I also got some cool LED lights on it this year, and so far my cats have left it alone. *knock on wood*
December 16, 2010 at 10:43 am
We have a fake tree handed down from Grandma. It’s good and we’re happy with it.
December 16, 2010 at 12:09 pm
a Christmas heirloom!
December 16, 2010 at 11:03 am
We tie catnip mice and mylar toys to the cat tree and call it done.
December 16, 2010 at 11:05 am
AWESOME
December 16, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Green and fake here. When I first got married I bought a bunch of matching ornaments. Over the years we have bought ornaments as souvenirs when we travel and to commemorate various milestones so now our tree is a hodge-podge of ornaments.
December 17, 2010 at 6:02 am
I hate to say that I still haven’t put our tree up thanks to the dog. He was chewing on the garland I put around the stair rail earlier this month so we may just end up doing the little fibre optic tabletop tree again.
I had really crap ornaments (and I mean bad) so about 5 years ago, I hit an after-Christmas sale of designer animal print stuff (balls, mini-purses, mini-shoes with black feather trim) – 90% off I might add. Anyway, I replaced everything for about $50. And the garland is black feather boas. But the dog loves all that stuff – it’s like squeaky toys to him. So no tree until he finally grows up – or I move somewhere that I can lock him out of the room (open-concept houses aren’t always a good thing). I might put it up just for a couple of days when I’m around so I can watch him constantly. I miss having those lights on in the evening – just doesn’t feel right without them.
December 18, 2010 at 4:50 pm
[…] Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured ask what kind of Christmas tree people have. Mine is artificial. No water, no risk of fire (well, unless the lights are strung all crazy), and no allergies! […]
December 20, 2010 at 1:20 pm
It’s about a foot and a half tall and apparently was supposed to have been one of the trees you use as a centerpiece or on the table in the entryway. It’s enough tree for me, though.
I bought it for $1 at a rummage sale shortly after I left my marriage and got to Seattle. Another buck got me a box of 20 white Christmas lights (which is still too many for such a small tree!). A sandwich bag full of teeny ornaments set me back another quarter; I use a few other items for ornaments, too, such as a pin my daughter bought me when she was in elementary school and a moosehide-and-bead brooch made by a famous Athabaskan artist named Mabel Pike.
My tree makes me happy, ’cause it’s MINE.
December 20, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Ooooh. Very nice.
Ours is also a centerpiece tree, but a live one. I like it.
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