Not first in my life, my parents used to have real ones, but first when I was on my own. I had bought a fake tree after Christmas in I think 1996 and used that tree every year (until 2008 when I had moved and had higher ceilings and that little 6ft tree looked pretty dumb plus I had too many ornaments for it - I have a 7.5 foot one now and it's not big enough either). Anyway. One year I was going to be in town for Christmas so I decided to get a live tree. Bought a big fancy stand and I don't even remember where I got the tree now or how I even got it home in my little Sentra, but mid way through my tree trimming party the damned thing fell over. We were talking and drinking and it was decorated and then we saw it start to fall and had to dive for it to try and keep it upright. Lost my GWU alumni ornament and the ears popped off one of my Mickey Mouse ornament balls that I was able to glue back on, lol.
And then we leaned the tree against the wall and I had to leave and go buy a new stand, the old fashioned sturdy kind my parents had owned. Way cheaper and actually worked!
I moved two years later and was still finding needles in the carpet. Never had a live tree again and I don't plan to! Not only because they're easier, but they're so much safer. I like to leave my trees up a long time because they're so pretty and I can't do that with a live one. There was a horrible fire about 15 years or so ago here - the grandparents had all their grandkids except for one (a baby) over to spend the night and had the tree on because it was so pretty, but it was MLK weekend and had dried out and a fire started and they all died. It was horrible, I don't know how those parents were able to deal with it, losing their own parents and their kids.
