[Drahken]

Question for those here who put up xmas trees; Are the majority of your ornaments matched sets (such as a bunch of gold balls and red spirals) along the lines of "professional" trees, or are the majority of your ornaments individual hodgepodge stuff with no more than 2 or 3 matching up with anything else on the tree?

When I was little we had a set of satin balls and a set of plastic candy canes which always went on the tree, but about 50% of the ornaments were individual hodgepodge stuff. Later we stopped using the balls & canes and nearly 100% became individual stuff. We had a few things with 3 or 4 ornaments that formed a set, and a few things which were loosely related (ie one time we had half a dozen wooden ornaments which were made by the same company, but were sold & purchased individually and had nothing in common besides their construction).
These days I don't often bother with a tree, but when I do, everything is 100% random hodgepodge stuff.

[The Australian Panther]

Never had a tree since I left home years ago. With all my family interstate during lockdown, no need for a tree. My memory and observation is that the best thing about trees is the social opportunity given when everybody comes together to decorate,
As a creative person, I like to make it up as I go, but some are more deliberate about it.
Many now buy a metal and plastic tree and fold it up and put it away later for use next year.
Not for me.
Makes me wonder, for many, trees are now sacred and growing one to cut down and put up temporality in your living room is probably a no-no. Watch for the practice to be banned - if it isn't already.

But seriously, enjoy your Christmas!       

[Drahken]

I've had artificial trees since I was about 4 or 5. I don't see either real nor artificial trees as being inherantly "evil", merely different options. For myself, I find the huge convenience & lower overall price of artificial trees far more appealing than the "genuine-ness" of a real tree.

[Robb_K]

Never had a tree since I left home years ago. With all my family interstate during lockdown, no need for a tree. My memory and observation is that the best thing about trees is the social opportunity given when everybody comes together to decorate,
As a creative person, I like to make it up as I go, but some are more deliberate about it.
Many now buy a metal and plastic tree and fold it up and put it away later for use next year.
Not for me.
Makes me wonder, for many, trees are now sacred and growing one to cut down and put up temporality in your living room is probably a no-no. Watch for the practice to be banned - if it isn't already.

But seriously, enjoy your Christmas!

ALL the unemployed and under-employed people on Earth should be planting trees all day, every work day, until our scientists perfect CO2 out-of-the-air suckers, and the latter have been doing their job for a fair amount of time. 

[paw broon]

For the last few years my wife and I have spent Christmas with just the 2 of us.  We used to have an artificial tree but now we don't put a tree up, preferring to decorate with the completely unmatched decorations we've acquired over the decades.  And we add candles and Christmas roses. The Christmas roses can be planted out in the garden later.
I'm in complete agreement with what Robb suggests.

[Captain Audio]

ALL the unemployed and under-employed people on Earth should be planting trees all day, every work day, until our scientists perfect CO2 out-of-the-air suckers, and the latter have been doing their job for a fair amount of time.

All unemployed should be paid a decent hourly wage tax free and not subtracted from any public aid payments they might also receive to plant trees, but only in properly regulated and laid out patterns with fire breaks and access roads.
Those best able to handle the equipment should be root raking the forests and removing dead wood and debris to reduce the probability of wild fires.
When California removed forest debris and dead brush the incidence of wildfires was minimal. The waste was processed to use as fuel at powerplants to offset the expense and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Burning dead wood in furnaces produced less CO2 than letting millions of acres burn yearly in wildfires, not to mention the burned towns and farms.