We have a cat tree we use. So artificial.

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.

Artificial. While it was a ton of plastic I can't get over cutting down a tree every year. Seems wasteful to me. My artificial is exactly the same as it was 10 years ago and I have no need to replace it.

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.

Never bothered with putting a tree up, but I've always kinda wanted to steal this idea:

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.

Why would i want a real tree? They're messy and EXTREMELY FLAMABLE

Fake one. Bought it a decade ago and its still doing just fine.

Neither. Cutting down a healthy tree for a little ritual seems extremely wasteful to me. I don't care much about Xmas so I don't have a fake tree, either. I do have lights up in the apartment, but they're up year round. I like the colors.

Number one cause of house fires around Christmas time, dry trees in homes. We put up the same artificial tree every year.

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

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.

Real.

Pricey? I just go out in the woods and take one for free.

Frugal family, never had a tree. I didn't care either. I just wished we did something fun as a family. I see normal families on tv and I feel jealous. My parents aren't like bad, but they kinda aren't good either. None of the holidays were really memorable in particular. I had "okay" moments, but nothing really "wholesome" that i could share.

Like any useful gifts or really just family time to some new place is all I want, fuck trees, I personally don't care, it doesn't really do anything.

I mean colorful lighting would look cool, but trees? Meh.

(I'm not born in a western country for context)

We 'rent' a real tree. After Christmas we bring it back and they re plant it.

Bucket tree, tree in a bucket. Have the tree in your house in a bucket, bucket is in the house with the tree in a bucket. Move bucket inside with the tree in the bucket, or outside once you're done with bucket tree.

I just put lights on my fig tree lol

Many years ago, we decided we did not want to cut trees anymore for the purpose of decorating our place, and since we also did not want to use a plastic one I did what I had to do by... painting a small one on top recycled cardboard that I cut to shape.

It's really small (the fat red-bearded dude doesn't overwhelm us under gifts either, maybe it's because he hates our tree?). It looks like a kid's version of a Xmas tree, some people would call it ugly as fuck, I say it is unique. We can easily (dis)assemble it & store it (takes no space at all), it never shed, we never lose or break a decoration, and setting it up with all it's decorations is just a matter of sliding one piece of cardboard into another, for its trunk/foot ;)

Despite it being made out of cardboard and being painted with gouache it's sturdy, only needing a touch of fresh paint every now and then. The previous one lasted something like 11 years before I had to make a new one, this year.

we've used artificial for at least the last 9 years now. Less cleanup, less expensive and easy to setup

We have large floofy ragdoll cats, 14lb missiles of Christmas tree doom.

Thus, we have neither.

A real tree 🎄 The smell and the beautiful imperfection, that is Christmas 🥰

Fake.

The real ones are expensive, throwaway fire hazards.

After 3-4 years of throwing away real trees you’d easily have enough for a nice artificial tree that will last decades.

I have a potted one I drag in and out of the house

artificial because killing a tree is repulsive to me. killing a tree for a tradition full of lies makes it even more repulsive

Ceramic is the only way to go.

Have always had artificial. My parents still use the same tree they used when I was a kid. When my wife and I bought our own place we invested in a good quality artificial and I expect it to last just as long.

Real trees are a nice idea but I’ve seen far too many horror stories about them causing fires, and even if they don’t go up in flames they still drop needles and insects everywhere. Why take the risk?

none, my house keeps getting messy despite expending few hours of cleaning every week, no time for extra chores

I used to go real, but lack of proper ones made me go artificial instead.

I grew up on the countryside where part of holiday tradition involved grabbing a saw and finding a proper tree in one of the many woods around the property. Now that I live more urban I have to rely on whatever is on the market. And the quality of the market is awful, so I might as well have something that at least looks good.

Artificial. Didn't even buy it. Picked it up from the curb and fixed it up with new lights

Artificial, bought a friend's tree second hand 8 years ago.

Thinking about replacing it next year. Have a toddler, and trying to make Christmas more special, and this one's old enough it's lots a lot of it's needles

We buy a live tree, but a small one.

Both!

Since my kids were young, we've made it a tradition to go out to forest service land and cut down a real tree (with a cheap permit), which helps with wildfire mitigation. The trees are usually kind of scrawny and awkward as they're not grown on a tree farm where they're all spaced apart and tended to during their growth, but the experience is fun. We put our cheap, lightweight ornaments on that.

Our main tree is a fake one that we can put up earlier.

It's like $10 to pay the Forest Service for a tag to cut one down yourself in the USA

Real tree

I don't really want to do a tree to begin with but if my wife's gonna make me do it I'm going to do it right.

Also I don't have to wrestle the damn thing up and down the rickety ladder to my attic, it's bad enough that I have to do that with the bins of ornaments.

And I get the catharsis of getting to burn the damn thing after the season is over.

Also it gives my house a slight piney scent.

Of course only the real thing counts. It's a superstition after all, isn't it?

Our annual tradition is to go out into the bush and cut one down. Then we make a fire and have a hot dog roast.

I've always had a fake one as a kid and continue with them on my own. My spouse always had real ones, but the care and cleanup of a real tree is obnoxious. Gotta keep it watered, gotta keep the needles contained, gotta wrap it in the thinnest fucking bag at the end, gotta vacuum the needles you missed, gotta vacuum the needles that spilled form the bag rips, gotta put it on the curb a certain day. So we do fake. Started with a curb find with dead lights where we just threw more lights on top

It can get pricey.

I like the idea of having a real tree, to have that nice pine scent in the room and how it flourishes with the decor. But I've been leaning towards getting artificial ones.