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#Post#: 19425--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: Luci Date: November 20, 2018, 10:28 am
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I am really interested in reading how we all grew up, and how we
have switched trees over the years.
My favorite story...my mom grew on a farm and went to a small
country church. In about 1917, my grandfather, always
cleanshaven, was Santa for the Christmas party. The tree was lit
with real candles and then my grandfather's fake beard caught on
fire and Mom was screaming "Daddy! Daddy!" There went a whole
neighborhood of kids knew the truth about Santa.
#Post#: 19426--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: AnnNottingham Date: November 20, 2018, 10:31 am
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Fake, and it's a silver color to boot :). We knew someone years
ago whose house went up in flames, starting in the dried out
tree. That was enough.
#Post#: 19464--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: Snowfire Date: November 20, 2018, 9:24 pm
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I grew up in the 60's & 70's. We always had a real tree.
Sometimes we had a tiny 2-3 foot tall one for the cats as well.
I do love the smell of a real tree, but hate the thought of
cutting a living tree down just to have it inside for a week or
two.
The first year we were in our new house, we had a live tree
(Douglas Fir) in a pot. It is now over 30 feet tall in our yard!
The next year we had a cut tree. The thing we didn't know was
that there was a crack in the tree stand and a couple of gallons
of juicy tree water leaked into our brand new carpet! Tree came
down the day after Christmas, restoration company was called.
The pulled the carpet off the tack strips and parked a fan under
it. Loaned us a moisture meter & told us to call when the levels
reached a certain point. About a week later things were dry
enough to re-stretch the carpet. They did that & told us to
cross our fingers that the stains would come out. Luckily they
did, but I used an old artificial tree my Mom had had in her
classroom the next year & bought a gorgeous one in the after
Christmas sales at 90% off that year. I still have it nearly 15
years later, it still looks gorgeous. The existing incandescent
"pre-lit" lights have since died, but last year I pulled them
all off and replaced with LED lights. Took for-freaking-ever to
unwind the old lights and wind on the new ones, but it looks
gorgeous! And it uses a LOT less electricity. I measured with a
"kill-o-watt" meter before I stripped the old lights off. Even
with about a third burned out it pulled about 400 watts. The new
ones pull less than 50. The only thing that gripes me is that I
wanted the color changing lights like I see on some of the new
trees where you can have either white or multi color. I can't
find any light strings that seem to do the job as nicely as the
ones on the pre-lit trees.
#Post#: 19476--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: Aleko Date: November 21, 2018, 2:09 am
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We never had a very large tree - nothing so tall that you
couldn't reach out to pinch off a guttering candle. And the
house where I grew up had open fires, so the whole family knew
how to treat naked flames, not with fear but due respect. Also,
that tree branches move, so that every time you light the
candles you have to check that each one is (a) in good
condition, not guttering, and (b) still in a safe position and
the branch hasn't shifted overnight so as to bring the flame
into contact with another branch.
Admittedly, LED lights have made electrically-lighted trees a
whole lot safer. But for decades, while people were saying to me
in shocked tones 'You use candles??? So dangerous!' there was
every year a slew of incidents in which respectable prudent
householders brought their Christmas tree lights down from the
loft and managed to electrocute themselves or their children.
#Post#: 19483--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: Dazi Date: November 21, 2018, 6:49 am
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We don't put up any kind of tree most years. I'm horribly
allergic to real ones and don't particularly like fake ones.
Plus, we have cats and they just love to knock all the ornaments
off. We do have an artificial tree in storage though, should the
urge hit to put one up. 😄
#Post#: 19489--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: peony Date: November 21, 2018, 8:09 am
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Growing up we had real trees and I liked it, but as an adult I
don't want to go through the mess that my parents did every year
so I have an artificial one.
#Post#: 20003--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: betty Date: November 26, 2018, 4:24 pm
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[quote]...worried about the cat getting into the tree...[/quote]
This is why, when we had our second cat, my parent's tree was in
the corner, wired to the wall on two sides. The first cat didn't
care about the tree, but cat #2 was a climber!
#Post#: 20033--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: Luci Date: November 26, 2018, 6:27 pm
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I thought that the real trees were so prickley that cats left
them alone?????
#Post#: 20044--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: Dazi Date: November 26, 2018, 7:15 pm
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[quote author=Luci link=topic=814.msg20033#msg20033
date=1543278434]
I thought that the real trees were so prickley that cats left
them alone?????
[/quote]
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Yeah, no.
Not even a little!
#Post#: 20053--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By: RubyCat Date: November 26, 2018, 8:23 pm
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[quote author=Dazi link=topic=814.msg20044#msg20044
date=1543281327]
[quote author=Luci link=topic=814.msg20033#msg20033
date=1543278434]
I thought that the real trees were so prickley that cats left
them alone?????
[/quote]
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Yeah, no.
Not even a little!
[/quote]
Dd had a friend who had a yellow lab and a cat. The cat would
hide in the Christmas tree and take swipes at the lab when she
walked by. They must've had that tree secured to the wall
somehow.
A long time ago, we had a ferret and I don't know how many times
we pulled her out of the Christmas tree. She only weighed about
a pound-and-a-half and never tipped the tree. And when she
wasn't climbing the tree she was stealing the shiny ornaments to
hide behind the couch. So, no, it was not too prickly, at least
the trees we've had.
But then there was the year when the husky dog pup did somehow
knock the tree over, got caught in the lights and dragged the
whole mess 4 feet across the hardwood floor. We knew it was 4
feet because that's how long the scratch in the floor was.
Fortunately, she was unharmed so we could laugh about it.
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