Real or Artificial Christmas Tree?

[charby]

I've not put up a tree in over 25 years. I'm never home for Christmas.

When I was a kid, we always had real trees. We lived in an old Victorian with high ceilings, and we always had a tree that would scrape the ceiling.

Always had C7 lights on it, as well, never those damned mini rice grain bullshit lights. I LOVE a tree that is awash in lights. Colored lights.

Then, sometime in the 1990s when Mom and Dad got older they threw in the towel and got an artificial tree. Actually looked pretty decent, but we had to use those stupid rice grain lights on it. Never liked it.

Until probably 2009 or 2010 Mom and I went to decorate the tree and... no lights. Couldn't find them anywhere. So, off to Lowes I go, only to find that they were sold out of just about everything... except dark red LED C5/6 size. So, I get 3 strings, only to find out that (on Christmas Eve) they're 60% off, so I end up with 6 or 8 strings. Throw 3 on the tree and have a brilliant idea to put 3 strings, bundled up, into the grate of the coal-burning fireplace. It actually looked like a damned fire in the fireplace (which hadn't been usable in over 30 years).

We had that every year until Mom passed away.

Here's the lights in the fireplace...



Still looks like a fire in there...

Miss that house.

Sure they aren't C9? I strung the biggest LED bulb lights I could find across my eave line on the front of my ranch house, they are C9. Reminded me of the big lights everyone had outside had when I was a kid.

[Declaration Day]

As a kid, we always had a real tree.  My positive childhood memories are few, but heading out to choose a tree is among them.  I loved the smell, and didn't mind having to water it at all.  It certainly was a job cleaning up needles from carpet.

After I moved out, I always used an artificial one, and a rather small one at that (tabletop).  I did, however, hang .30-06 cartridges, bullet facing down, among the normal ornaments.  I never told my guests; I waited to see if they noticed.

I converted to another faith from Christianity a few years ago, so I no longer put the tree up, though I still have it.

[MillCreek]

What a clever idea, with the lights in the fireplace.

[lee n. field]

Poll for those that celebrate the holiday and have a tree. I just read an article on the big uptick of people getting real trees this Christmas, due (like everything else the MSM reports on) to the covid . Apparently as of last year, 80% of Americans now use artificial trees. That was a shocking number to me. I might have pegged it at 50% tops before reading the article.

Of course I'm old, and culture could have something to do with it. Where my dad grew up in Germany, they were surrounded by pine forests, so they would take the horse and buggy outside town to cut one down in the forest. Not something they could do when they moved to America, but we had real trees when I was a kid, with the trip of misadventures to the "A Christmas Story" tree lot. It would have just been considered unheard of to get an artificial tree.

I've always felt there was something "wrong" with an artificial tree. Of course this is strictly opinion. My sister grew up in the same house as me but has an artificial tree. She does it for ease, others might do it for environmental reasons or whatever. To each their own. For me, the real tree is importantly nostalgic, and an annual reminder of family Christmas when I was young. Those are probably my most pleasant memories growing up.

Anyways, that 80% number still threw me for a loop, so I was curious which way APS members that celebrate Christmas go.

Some years back I got tired of looking for a tree late in the season, and bought a small live pine in a pot at Wally World.  That plant is what we still use.

[zxcvbob]

Pro tip:  if you celebrate Orthodox Christmas, you can save a lot of money on Christmas trees; buy them on or about New Years Eve.

[K Frame]

No, they were not C9s.

They were these. C6 LEDs, all red, sold at Lowes.

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/home-and-decor/holiday/christmas-lights/9045581?x429=true&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzZL-BRDnARIsAPCJs70JAraVcSzJqmy__2Csn8Fs9xlAEy54bi0cirBtVMvhr6FJ5jmT-L4aAh5VEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[HeroHog]

1: We have a cat, so a small tree that we can put on a shelf he doesn't have access to MIGHT survive a week or two.

2: We are old and real trees are a PITA. (needles, transport, assistance setting it up)

3: Real trees are freaking expensive these days!!!

4: small, LED/Fiber-optic, artificial tree For The Win!

[charby]

No, they were not C9s.

They were these. C6 LEDs, all red, sold at Lowes.

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/home-and-decor/holiday/christmas-lights/9045581?x429=true&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzZL-BRDnARIsAPCJs70JAraVcSzJqmy__2Csn8Fs9xlAEy54bi0cirBtVMvhr6FJ5jmT-L4aAh5VEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

I was  referring to the lights you used to have on the tree as a kid.

[K Frame]

"I was  referring to the lights you used to have on the tree as a kid."

They were C7s.

C9s were the outdoor lights; we used those on the pine beside the house until it became too big to decorate. Then they were used on the porch.

C7s are candelabra base/E12. We had many strings of C7 lights for our trees.

C9s are the larger E17 base.




We also had a few strings (and a candelabra or two) that took the old C6/E10 base bulbs. These were the ones that if one bulb blew, the entire string went dark. The C7 bulb and string was developed so that if one bulb blew, the other would remain lit.


The bulb sizes are today commonly called C7 & C9, but they're actually C7 1/2 and C 9 1/4.

[230RN]

1: We have a cat, so a small tree that we can put on a shelf he doesn't have access to MIGHT survive a week or two.

2: We are old and real trees are a PITA. (needles, transport, assistance setting it up)

3: Real trees are freaking expensive these days!!!

4: small, LED/Fiber-optic, artificial tree For The Win!

5.  And real trees are firebombs.  Boulder CO had a Christmas tree bonfire in a huge vacant lot on 30th.  The pile of trees was enormous.  Then they'd light it off.  I was still a city boy and I was amazed at how fast the first trees they lit went up. And it wasn't long before people (including Wife1 and I) were retreating from the intense heat.  We still used real trees, but after we split the blanket, I got myself an artificial one and bought some branches from the tree sellers for the fragrance.

I vaguely recall getting a cutting permit and Son1 and I got our own out of the designated cutting area, but I'll have to check with him on that.

https://youtu.be/ggOrCU7Apxg

[charby]

"I was  referring to the lights you used to have on the tree as a kid."

They were C7s.

C9s were the outdoor lights; we used those on the pine beside the house until it became too big to decorate. Then they were used on the porch.

C7s are candelabra base/E12. We had many strings of C7 lights for our trees.

C9s are the larger E17 base.




We also had a few strings (and a candelabra or two) that took the old C6/E10 base bulbs. These were the ones that if one bulb blew, the entire string went dark. The C7 bulb and string was developed so that if one bulb blew, the other would remain lit.


The bulb sizes are today commonly called C7 & C9, but they're actually C7 1/2 and C 9 1/4.

As a kid the folks in your parents generation and older used the old incandescent C9 bulb strings for both indoors and outdoors. My parents generation used the little ones for indoors and c9 for outside. I don't ever recall any C7 bulbs as a kid, even in the downtown Christmas window displays or all the trees inside our home church.

[K Frame]

"And real trees are firebombs."

The are flammable, and are extremely flammable if people don't treat them correctly and let them dry out.

A natural tree will drink amazing amounts of water, which often must be topped off daily, or even twice a day, depending on the capacity of the tree stand.

My parents were scrupulous about keeping the tree hydrated. 

[K Frame]

If anyone is really confused about all this talk about C5/6/7/9 E etc., here's a good reference.

https://blog.christmas-light-source.com/christmas-light-bases-and-lens-shapes/

[K Frame]

"As a kid the folks in your parents generation and older used the old incandescent C9 bulb strings for both indoors and outdoors."

Not as much as you'd think.

The C6 and C7 lights predate the introduction of C9s by probably 20 years or more, and came about because the early C6/7 sets didn't show up well outdoors and weren't weather suitable except in fairly mild and dry climates.

I'm not 100% sure, but I THINK that C9s weren't truly introduced on the market until either just before or just after WW II.

The C9s also tended to burn hotter than the C7s and really weren't suitable for indoor use on trees. I'm sure that people did, but I'm guessing that that was rather sporadic.

C9s did make some inroads into indoor decoration, however, in window candles, normally singles. We had one such window candle. We also had two large homemade pillar "candles" that took C9s that were placed on either side of the front hall to greet people as they came in.

[charby]

"As a kid the folks in your parents generation and older used the old incandescent C9 bulb strings for both indoors and outdoors."

Not as much as you'd think.

The C6 and C7 lights predate the introduction of C9s by probably 20 years or more, and came about because the early C6/7 sets didn't show up well outdoors and weren't weather suitable except in fairly mild and dry climates.

I'm not 100% sure, but I THINK that C9s weren't truly introduced on the market until either just before or just after WW II.

The C9s also tended to burn hotter than the C7s and really weren't suitable for indoor use on trees. I'm sure that people did, but I'm guessing that that was rather sporadic.

C9s did make some inroads into indoor decoration, however, in window candles, normally singles. We had one such window candle. We also had two large homemade pillar "candles" that took C9s that were placed on either side of the front hall to greet people as they came in.

I'm also thinking C7 probably weren't available or even stocked where I lived, I was a kid before the modern big box stores made it to the smaller towns/cities. All I remember in the stores were the mini bulbs and the big C9. If Christmas decorations got a both sides of an aisle in a store during a season, that was a big deal.

We didn't get a Wal-mart until I was in Junior High. Kmart and Woolworths were our national discount stores and then we had several local/small regional discount stores, then the independent franchised hardware stores, like Coast to Coast, True Value, Ace, etc. And a couple farm and home stores. Sears, JC Pennys, Younkers, Montgomery Wards were our national/regional department stores. I grew up in a town of about 30k in a county of 50k.

[K Frame]

Possible.

GE introduced the Merry Midget light (what I've always called the rice bulb, but rice bulbs were smaller and less common) around 1965 and they became really popular REALLY quickly. They burned cooler, used a lot less electric, and were easier to hang on the tree because they weighed a lot less.

Many families I knew in the 1970s had largely switched to the Merry Midgets; my Grandparents did, as well. My family didn't. We liked our trees awash in light, and in the big rooms in our Victorian they really made our big trees stand out.

The C7 strings were probably available, but likely were relegated to a small section of the display simply because the Merry Midget style outsold them by a wide margin.

When LEDs Christmas lights started coming out larger bulb styles started to come back into style.


We finally stopped decorating with outdoor lights because there were a bunch of ahole kids in our town who thought that it was the height of great fun to go up to houses, unscrew the bulbs, and smash them on the porch. They were the same aholes who thought smashing pumpkins on cars was great fun, as well.

One guy caught one of the kids (he was 17 or 18 at the time, so not really a kid) smashing a pumpkin on his car and beat the hell out of him -- REALLY beat the hell out of him. Broke a couple of bones in his face, a couple of his ribs, I think his arm... really felony assault. Only, when the police arrived, the kid had a knife (never really clear whether the homeowner planted the blade or what), but it was enough that kid got arrested for attempted robbery, homeowner was backed up by a neighbor who supposedly saw the whole robbery attempt...

Since the kid already had an extensive juvenile sheet, you can imagine how it went down. Homeowner got off scott free, kid got some time in county jail and, oddly enough, a lot of petty crime and vandalism in town.... stopped. And most people in town were of the opinion that it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

[charby]

When LEDs Christmas lights started coming out larger bulb styles started to come back into style.

Totally agree, only reason I have C9 LED for outdoor is because they are cheap to power and I scored a couple hundred feet of lights cheap on discount sales after the holidays. I used the smallest incandescent bulbs to save money. I had C7 LED for outdoors before because at the time they were considerably cheaper than C9 LED strings until recently. I can't believe how many LED strings I went though for outside in the early years of LED Christmas lights, I'd have cords or bulb sockets that burned. My very first set smoked the transformer on the string the first night I used it. I flipped it on, huge arc from the transformer and plume of smoke. 

[K Frame]

"My very first set smoked the transformer on the string"

Yeah, the early LED sets weren't that great for a lot of reasons. Strobing was pretty common, as was flickering (although in Christmas lights, not such a bad thing), and life expectancy was... suspect, at best.

Fortunately none of the C6 sets I bought for Mom's house ever showed any problems like that.

[K Frame]

Speaking of LEDs...

Neighbors put up new LED Christmas icicle lights on their house while I was away. They've always favored all white lights, which I generally hate. The old sets they replaced were midget style, and a lot were failing, so new LEDs...

What they have up now is still white, but it's... frosty... is the best way I can describe the light they put off, and it's quite attractive. I actually like these.

I did my decorating early... I put an LED flicker bulb in my post light out front. Makes it look like a Victorian gas lamp.

[charby]

I did my decorating early... I put an LED flicker bulb in my post light out front. Makes it look like a Victorian gas lamp.

I've been wanting to put up a light post near where my front walk and driveway meet, I really like the LED flicker flame bulbs, just not sure how that would look with a 1955 ranch with some Prairie School themes. I imagine at one time like every residential house in Iowa it had a natural gas light post, but that is more a consistent bright light than the flicker of kerosene or coal oil lamp. I'm pretty sure it did have a NG light because I have a small plugged hole in my foundation at the front of the house that is about the size of the copper pipe that used to feed those posts. Everyone tore them out or converted them to electricity in the 1970 energy crisis, apparently there was a law banning them or something.

I want to have one like the lower left corner, seems to match midcentury modern and prairie style.



Epic thread drift. :)

[K Frame]

"but that is more a consistent bright light than the flicker of kerosene or coal oil lamp."

Only after the introduction of the gas mantle in the 1880s/1890s. Prior to that gas lights tended to be very similar to a kerosene flame in light output.

I've seen houses here in Northern Virginia that outdoor lights that use either the coleman style tie on mantle or the ceramic base mantle.

I've seen a couple that have gas valves on them and pizo electric sparkers to allow easy lighting...

[charby]

"but that is more a consistent bright light than the flicker of kerosene or coal oil lamp."

Only after the introduction of the gas mantle in the 1880s/1890s. Prior to that gas lights tended to be very similar to a kerosene flame in light output.

I've seen houses here in Northern Virginia that outdoor lights that use either the coleman style tie on mantle or the ceramic base mantle.

I've seen a couple that have gas valves on them and pizo electric sparkers to allow easy lighting...

Yep the gas post lights I remember had the tie on mantles. Only time I see them other than camping lanterns are at cabins that are off the grid (power would cost too much to run to a vacation hunting cabin) and ice fishing shanties.

[K Frame]

There are a couple of companies that still make open flame jet-style gas lights. I've seen a couple of historic buildings in downtown Alexandria, Virginia, that have them installed.

At one time there was apparently a specific "illuminating gas" mix that was manufactured just for lighting applications because it gave a brighter, whiter flame.

Interesting article here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/illuminating-gas-what-it-is-and-how/

"Only time I see them other than camping lanterns are at cabins that are off the grid (power would cost too much to run to a vacation hunting cabin)"

The hunting camp we went to when I was a kid was off grid.

Had propane bottles that ran lights that looked a LOT like these:

[RoadKingLarry]

Almost 20 years ago a group of friends and co-workers had a big dinner get together at an Amish "restaurant". They specialized in good old fashioned meat and potatoes kind of food. The dinning hall was lit with gas lamps with Coleman type mantles.

The food was incredible. I think that for a small fee the Amish also offered wheelbarrow service to get you back to your car, I almost needed it.

[K Frame]

"Epic thread drift. "

It's what we do.