Christmas is coming up and one of the biggest Christmas traditions is putting up a tree. Each year there's always a debate, team real tree or fake tree?  Growing up I was team fake tree. The reason is because that's all we had.  I liked the idea of setting up a tree, and not having to mess with it.  My husband however grew up always having a real tree, so when we bought our house his one Christmas request was we get a real tree.

Now having had a real tree for a few years it turns out I'm team real tree. There's a few reasons why I personally like real trees and these are those reasons.

  1. It's more environmentally friendly as a real tree helps support tree farmers, and is 100% biodegradable unlike artificial.
  2. Picking out the perfect real tree has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions. It's fun to walk around the tree lot and pick out the perfect tree.
  3. No fluffing fake branches. My LEAST favorite thing about having a fake tree was having to fluff the branches when you pull it out of the storage box, the branches are always pokey.
  4. You don't have to store it all year.
  5. The smell! I love the smell of a real tree.

Now those are the reasons that personally converted me to team real tree after many years being 100% pro artificial tree. But there are some cons to real trees:

  1. You have to remember to water it.
  2. You do a lot of vacuuming to clean up pine needles (also a bonus because my floors are never vacuumed as regularly as they are in the month of December).

Now since I've had experience with both, to be most fair I'll share the pros and cons I've learned with both real and fake trees.

Fake tree pros:

  1. No going to a tree lot... so it saves you a trip to a tree lot.
  2. No watering it
  3. No dropped needles
  4. No squirrels hiding in them when you get them home (if you don't get this reference can we even be friends?).

Fake tree cons:

  1. Not the most environmentally friendly as they're typically not biodegradable.
  2. No pine smell in your home (may be a pro if you don't like the smell).
  3. You have to find a place to store it in your home when you aren't using it.
  4. Fluffling branches are a pain.

Now that you've read my comprehensive list of reasons why I personally prefer real to fake, I'm going to tell you this, no matter what type of tree you choose, do what makes you happy. This year has been rough enough, so if a fake tree is your jam, put it up and drink some eggnog, and have a merry Christmas!

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