Christmas tree!

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Been with my wife and my two stepkids for nine years. When we first got together, their tradition was to drive to a nearby tree farm, let the kids pick out a tree, cut it down and bring it home. There is a six year age gap between the boy, who is now 20, and the girl, who just turned 15. One year, the disparity between what they wanted was so wide and the process took so long that I threatened to convert the whole family to Judaism.

But with the boy now in college and gone half of December, we don't have the window we once did to go and get a tree. We went on the Saturday after Thanksgiving two years ago but realized that was too damned long to have a real tree up. And to wait until they get back to go and get it means you only have a tree up for about 10 days before Christmas. Not worth all of the labor and expense.

So, last year, we went to the At Home store and got a fake tree that has the lights already built in. Three sections that click into place and immediately light up. Instead of traveling across the county, I go into the garage and get this big ***** out of the box. And I don't have to have a ****ty pair of jeans and old golf shoes for clodhopping through a tree farm in the mud (and it was always muddy).

 

[Driftwood]

Where I work had an assortment of trees at prices of 39/59/69.
As of yesterday, we had 1 left, and it was marked down to 10.

 

[Dog8Cats]

When I was single and wanted a tree, I would wait until the night of Christmas Eve and get one - usually for free. Then I'd take it home and lean it against the wall. No stand. No lights.

 

[DanOregon]

I picked up a planted tree last night at Home Depot for $12. Surprised how cleaned out they were of Christmas stuff. Usually they still have half of their holiday section left, they were down to about an eighth of the space. The salesperson said they didn't order as much this year because they had so much left over last year, whatever that indicates...

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Always have had a real tree and always will. Get them at a place that's a farm stand and greenhouse in the summer. No tree this year because we're in Brooklyn, but my son's tree is real as can be.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Always have had a real tree and always will. Get them at a place that's a farm stand and greenhouse in the summer. No tree this year because we're in Brooklyn, but my son's tree is real as can be.

Wait, what?

 

[dixiehack]

By now the pink aluminum tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas would be an amazing kitsch item and I would gladly buy one at a reasonable price.

 

[SJ Staff]

Growing up and ever since moving to Oregon we always had a live tree, until about four years ago when we bought an artificial one. Getting a tree just became way expensive and a real PITA.

One year, we bought a live Christmas tree, about 6 feet tall. After Christmas, you take it outside, take the burlap sack off of the root ball, dig a hole and plant it. We put it in the commons area behind our house. It has flourished.

View attachment 21505

Christmas tree whole year round!

 

[SJ Staff]

I drive by a Christmas tree farm on my way to work.

That must smell good!

 

[SJ Staff]

My kids' Scout troop sells Christmas trees as its primary fundraiser. The first few years we were in the troop there were only like six active kids and the adult who ran the lot used some weird system to price trees. He would basically double the cost and add five bucks to make it an even number or whatever.

The second year we were in the troop the cost of trees increased significantly, I think there was some killoff or drought or something that impacted supply. We had like eight types of trees that were over $100. The first two weeks we were open we sold hardly any. Mostly to friends or family or old-time supporters who didn't think twice. But so many people left. I mean, you could get one same type of tree we were charging like $110 for at Costco for $40. I know it's a fundraiser, but people also aren't dumb.

It took so long for the more sane adults in the group to finally convince the old-timer that we needed to lower the prices or we are going to be underwater. One of the parents who had been around for a while still didn't do it when she was in charge of the shift. Anyway, through the lower prices and a huge social media marketing push we had a successful season and the kids who worked made a decent amount. But we had like 40 or 50 trees left.

We did another social media push to say they were free. One of our schools pushed it and it made the paper too. We had no capacity to get rid of them. It was less than a week until Christmas and they were all gone within 24 hours. A nice touch, though, was that we got several emails and letters thanking us for making their Christmas.

The troop grew a ton the next year and the guy who took it over was much more business savvy. That lot has only been open a couple of weeks each year since and has sold out completely. I hated working that thing in those early years. It consumed our holidays and I'll always have nightmares about that one year. But my kids never paid a thing in Scouts because of that fundraiser. I still wonder how tree lots are doing when I drive by.

We have always had a fake tree.

and that's the spirit of Christmas!

 

[SJ Staff]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

 

[2muchcoffeeman]