R2OK!

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Who would rather have a fake or real christmas tree? There are some really good fake trees around and you can open them up and dress them really nice. I know there are some strange colours around, but you can't beat a real christmas tree.

iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

The last real tree we got left such a mess that we've now gone over to an imitation one.

Ian.

Shaky Fan · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 628

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

I put ours up at the weekend.... I like real ones but the artificial ones are like one of the familiy.... it breaks my heart to see abandoned Christmas Trees after Christmas. A tree is for life, not just for Christmas.

http://rachel-h.wikispaces.com/file/view/tree.JPG/107772221/tree.JPG

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

That's nice, and I like the white lights, rather than the strobe-effect neon ones which do everything except fetch you a couple of paracetomol to relieve the headache you get watching them, that are the current fashion.

Not unlike ours, in fact, but I haven't put it up yet!

Have always had an artificial tree - we're on the second one in 25 years. I remember real ones in childhood. Lovely smell when new, terribly forlorn by New Year when all the needles had shed, and helping to pick all of those out of the carpet well into January was a chore and a half.
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Ron

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

Oh nothing that flashes in our house, Ron. We've had this tree for yonks...you have to build it: the branches and trunk are all tiny separate sections that fit together, it has assembly tools, instructions and everything... 3 hours work to assemble it. There's always some bits left over... but different bits every year.....

Fashion..... hmmmm, I once said to a chap who commented on my dress, "oh I like to follow fashion". He said, "it's a pity you chose to do so, from such a great distance". I've never forgotten that, and that one comment has shaped my wardrobe ever since.

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

I think ours is about eight years old. It comes in half a dozen pieces but it takes a while to twist all the branches and twigs out to make it look "natural", then comes the tricky bit - dressing it with lights, baubles and tinsel. I spend ages on that then my wife gets home and changes it all.

When four of Santa's elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones, Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her Mum was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and had gone, heaven knows where. More stress.

Then, when he began to load the sleigh, one of the boards cracked and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys.

So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum.

When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider pot, and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened the door, and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?"

And, so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

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Ron

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

Ouch!

It's a good job they wear that plastic funnel dress... Smile

Can you remember those Fibre Optic trees? They were horrid.

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

They still do them, Rach. We took M-i-L to the garden centre at the weekend - the Christmas section was full of odd-shaped, spindly, gaudy trees and lighting systems that were more major emergency than twinkling stars. The fibre-optic ones were probably the most subtle, but that doesn't say much.
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Ron

R2Icon · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 1444

OMG .. they're so last century....

My top tip for tree lights this year.. is get yourself a byebye standby... we have ( they come in sets of three with a remote control) When we've put our tree up in the past, the lights were plugged into a socket behind the tree, so for years we've had a long stick , so that we can switch the lights on and off; not an easy task, it involved laying on one's tummy and prodding around in the dark until you hit the switch under the table behind the tree. Bingo! Not this year , oh no... with the byebye standby ( which we'd bought for the TV/DVD to save electricity ... and it does).. plug the lights into that, then into the socket and use the remote ... it's dead impressive... we have the TV/DVD on one button, the reading lights on another and the tree lights on another....it's cool beans ... it's like sitting in Jim'l fix it's chair.... Smile

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Funnily enough I was looking at something similar in a Poundstretcher-type shop yesterday - a six-in-one adapter:- one socket for Freeview/Sky/Virgin box which is on permanently, a second for the TV, and four "slaves". When you press standby on your TV remote it shuts power to that socket and to the slaves. £12.99 Shocked

(Later:- actually it's not the same as the bye-bye http://www.byebyestandby.com/howitworks.html which just shuts everything off)

Our Christmas tree lights have a switch half way along the cable from the wall (like on some table lamps) and they're easy to switch on/off.

When they were launched in the 1970s I very nearly bought a fibre-optic table lamp, one of those which changed colour. Fortunately my dad bought one first and I heard the noise the motor driving the colour screen made.

I did, however, buy one of these

(the one on the left) and we've still got it...- unlike the original lava lamp, I can't bring myself to get rid of it!

http://www.weydonian.net/shattaline/5_products.html
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Ron