You guys and your gorgeous photos are really getting me in the mood for the winter holidays! What a wonderful thread. Here is our family Christmas tree from last year. We give the Christmas tree a name always in the house. This was Goldie.
We typically wait rather close to Christmas before purchasing a tree, sometimes as late as Christmas Eve.
We turn up the heat, light the fireplaces, my mother throws frankincense and myrrh into the fire to crackle, and there are candles everywhere and lots of baking going on in the kitchen. We use a real tree, and since we keep it warm for December we don't want the star of the show to begin to dry out before the big day :)
My mom also likes to have the smell of fresh pine in the house on Christmas day, so the trees tend to be last minute ones that have just been cut with that bright, minty smell. The price also often is very low because we wait so late, sometimes people literally give away trees.
We don't need the trees to be so tall, just fat :)