So about 10 ten years ago we gave up completely on having a real tree; they dried out too quickly no matter what we did--especially with the heat from the pellet stove in the same room--and would soon cover my little village and other Christmas bits at the time with needles--and occasionally the dreaded sap!
We went through a succession of cheaper artificial trees--which simply didn't look very nice the following season no matter how carefully they were boxed and stored--or fell apart almost immediately.
And then...four years ago..we bought a fairly expensive pre-lit tree--with LED's we'd supplement with vintage lighting---somehow we wanted to believe that if we read enough reviews, shopped carefully and spent enough, we'd have a tree that would last for some years to come.
Wrong...
Our purchase, made in China and offered by a fairly prominent US company--and we'll leave it at that---and costing almost $450 at an after Christmas sale--it originally went for $600--started off like this:
1) Right out of the box and the faux green evergreen wrapping around the trunk was loose and unraveling; no big deal we said--the glue gun came out--and the problem was solved in about ten minutes.
2) In the second year, the branches no longer held their positions well--some drooped terribly; no big deal we said--the green wire ties came out and the branches were soon back in place.
3) In the third year, more branches drooped; no big deal we said--more green wire ties.
4) In the fourth and final year, a portion of the LED lights died; after quite some time trying to figure out if WE were doing something wrong--we (or rather I) removed the offending light strand and replaced it with another. Sounds simple doesn't it? It wasn't. That failed light string was held in place by what seemed a zillion mini wire ties; 40 minutes later, the carpet was littered with a zillion and a half wire tie remnants (that clogged the vacuum so bad we ended up scooping them into the trash bag by hand).
Long story shot--into the trash it went once Christmas was over.
So can anyone recommend a good artificial tree that will last more than four years...see
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22283683@ ... 2435773409