Cut your own tree?

I love the smell and feel of real trees. I just don't like the watering, the needles, the dying, the throwing out, the lighting, the cuts and scrapes, and the general hassle of dealing with a real tree. So, I'm firmly in the artificial camp. However, nothing quite tops the smell of a Christmas Tree ablaze with lights and ornaments.

With all the environmental concerns, I'm surprised that there is a resurgence in cutting your own tree. Tree farms are normally better places because they specifically grow and replant for their business. I guess people want to get back to nature.

It might be fun, but it all depends on where you live. Not everyone has access to pines that would be suitable for a Christmas tree. But I can totally see it being something everyone does together as a family. The little jokes and the working together could be really good for a family. The only thing I would hope everyone would do when cutting their own tree: plant two new trees for the one you're taking. While the trees may look great in our homes, they look a lot better in the soil.:)

We used to do that when we were kids. The people that lived behind my grandmother used to sell christmas trees. So we would go up one saturday and pick one together and then my dad would cut it down. I'd have to see if there were any where near here that does that still. For a few years we went and bought pre-cut ones in town but they were getting so expensive and it was a hassle to clean up. But the kids haven't had a real tree yet. We've been using a pre-lit artificial we got a few years ago. I miss having a real tree and we've been talking about going back to a real one maybe next year. I want the kids to experience a real tree. Plus with the ceilings in this house we could get a nice sized tree. I think that maybe we'll do that next year. They would have so much fun picking out their own tree.

I think this would be great fun and a wonderful tradition. There is just one glitch for me, I moved to Florida. Real trees don't hold up so well here plus I have no idea where one might be able to cut down a Christmas tree here in the SW region. Northern Fl is a totally different story though. For me that would be about a 6 hour ride Back home I knew some people who did cut their own. i was impressed by that and only wish we could have done the same.

When the kids were younger and the economy was better we used to go out to the tree farms and chose and cut our own tree. The owners always had hot chocolate to serve and they would also sell ornaments and fruit cakes and sometimes other goodies to sell too. We had a lot of fun tramping around the farm looking for just the right tree. checking it out from all angles and trying to see if it was the right size making sure it wasn't too tall. Then the kids got older and the price of even cutting your own tree went up quite a bit. The tree farmers put a lot of work into pruning to make sure the trees have good Christmas tree shapes. Would I do it again? Yes if I had the money. Noe we have an artificial one that we have had for some years now and it will have to do. I say go cut down your own tree at a farm and make a new memory.

Research has determined that the shelf life of fruitcake is longer than the
shelf.

I have never cut down my own tree. I have always had either a pre cut tree or an artificial one. We have lots of pine trees, but not your typical Christmas pine tree otherwise I would be out in our woods cutting one down myself.

My husband used to cut our trees every year when our children were young. But his Dad had enough property where we could cut one down of our own. We own acreage, but most of our trees are too big for Christmas trees, and we don't have any cedar much.

I'm sure it's a wonderful family tradition. However, I usually stick to a fake tree and let my children decorate it. That seems to be enough of a family tradition for my house.

Yes my x-husband did that one year, and it was the most funniest thing I have ever seen in my life LOL, he cut the tree down and he didnt know that the tree would be bigger then the whole living room, it was a mess but it was fun and funny and we kept cutting the tree and then finally it fit in the house, and it was beautiful I would tell you to try it, just make sure the tree will fit LOL.

we have done this once in our married life (21 years) and i really liked doing it. it was fun and felt very christmasy. we have bought already cut ones but mostly, we have just put up an artificial tree (its just cheaper and easier - no needles to vacuum up!)

Hi Kats! My friend told me about this place last year called "Santas tree farm" and so we went there and they had hay rides, free cocoa and visits with Santa. You get to go out into there tree forest and chose and cut down your own tree with provided saws. We had a great time doing that last year and decided to make it a tradition. The price of the tree was 3.50 per foot, so it wasn't too bad.