Selecting Your Christmas 2008 Tree
Posted: Wednesday, December 03, 2008
by Greg Greer
Christmas Decorations 2008
The Christmas Tree is the focal point of your Christmas Decorations. The first decision in purchasing a tree is deciding whether you want a live or artificial tree. There are good and bad points for both types.
Natural Trees
Natural trees have the advantage of adding that wonderful pine scent to your home and creating a family adventure in going out to purchase the tree. In today's market there are many options available in selecting your tree. The number one thing in selecting a tree is to make sure it is as fresh as possible and to cut the bottom to allow water to be absorbed from the bottom. There are many varieties of trees available and you want to select the one that meets your family tastes. You can get short needles, long needles, various colors, varying heights and varying widths. You should decide before departing on your family outing as many of these variables as possible. The next step is to decide where to shop for your tree. You will be able to visit many corner tree shops, large stores, nurseries and tree farms. Try and find a tree that meets your needs and has been opened up so you can see what the trees final appearance will be. Try and find trees with straight trunks and a good branch pattern on the whole tree. The advantage of the corner tree shop and large stores is that you will probably save on the purchase price of your tree. The disadvantages of the corner tree shop and the large stores is that the tree had been cut for a long period of time and the types of trees are fairly limited. My preference is a tree farm or nursery where you know you are getting a very fresh tree of the best quality. It can also be a full day adventure when you go to a tree farm, ride the sleigh, drink the cider, throw snow balls and just have a good time.
Artificial trees have the advantages of being a one time purchase, less fire hazard, and ease of setup. Once again you want to have the type of tree, height of tree, and width of tree in your mind before starting your shopping. With artificial trees you should also decide whether you want a unlit tree (you install lights) or a prelit tree (lights are installed on the tree). I prefer the prelit trees because of ease of set up and the lights are evenly dispersed on the whole tree. Another factor you must consider on artificial trees is the number of branch tips on the tree. The more branch tips on the tree the fuller and more realistic it will look. All you have to do is decide on your tree height and compare all the trees at that height. Normally the higher the tip count the more expensive the tree. I also highly recommend purchasing a tree storage bag for the size of tree you purchase. This is a lifetime investment and the better the storage container is, the better your tree is preserved. Another factor to consider when purchasing a tree is whether you will want to place the tree outside. If you want a tree for the outside make sure it states outside use on the package. If you want an outside tree I strongly recommend looking at the commercial grade artificial trees because they are much more soundly built.
Our preference for our home is an artificial prelit tree. The initial cost is more but after about 5 years of use, the cost has been recovered and we still have many more years of use. We purchased an upper end tree but it looks just as beautiful today as the day we purchased it.
I hope I have provided you with some ideas and suggestions on selecting your Christmas Tree for this year. I have to go and unpack my tree now and get Christmas 2008 off to the proper start. A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!
Greg Greer
http://www.homedecorationsusa.com
http://www.homedecorationsusa.com/Artificial_Trees.php
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Thank you for your article Greg. You brought back so many memories. My siblings and I grew up with real Christmas trees. We'd go and purchase the biggest we cound find bring it back home and let it sit over night on its stand until the next day. Then we'd decorate it. How wonderful those times were. Artificial is okay, but I really prefer the smell of the joy of yesterday.Deborah
Great article, Greg. For many years, we cut our own Christmas trees, but for the last twenty or so years, we have stopped cutting our trees and opted to use an artificial tree that saves the lives of our cedars.Thanks for sharing.Sandra
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