Real vs. Artificial Christmas Tree

This debate comes up every year. Do we go out to buy a real Christmas tree or do we pull out the artificial one? Which is better?

OR

Well, I feel that different trees work for different people. For us, having an artificial tree in our home is better. Here are the top 5 reasons why we chose an artificial tree over the real tree.


1. Allergies

Kevin is really sensitive to plants, pollen, dust...his eyes would water and he would be sneezing non stop. It would be a really bad idea to lug a live tree into our living room. You can just imagine how terrible it will be for him. We would have a real live Rudolph the red nose reindeer in the house, with all the sneezing, watery eyes and runny nose. Not good.

2. Cheaper & Last Longer

We bought our 6ft Douglas Fir artificial tree from Walmart about five years ago for $20 (now selling for about $40). An artificial tree can last for about 6 to 8 years, depending on how well you care for it. It cost between $35 - $55 for a real 6ft tree and it last for about a month. For those of you who are not so good in math, let me break it down for you. We spent $20 for 5 years with our artificial tree compared to $175 - $275 if had gotten real trees.

3. Almost Zero Maintenance

Putting up an artificial tree is just great. All you need to do is take it out, set it up, decorate it and there you go! It's a whole different story with a real tree. First you need to go to farms or home centers in search of that perfect tree. Then you have to make sure it is standing straight and stuff like that. Now the difficult part. You have to tie it up and find a way to take that huge tree home. If you are living in a high rise apartment like us, it's twice as hard :P Once you get it home, you have to make sure its standing straight again, decorate it and water it frequently. You should consider yourself lucky if your tree is not damaged on the way home!! :P

4. Brings unwanted bugs and other stuff into the home

With a real tree, it sometimes has bug and other creepy crawlies living in the tree. Remember that National Lampoon Christmas Vacation movie? There was squirrel living in that tree! Hahaha. Also, if the bugs don't kill you, the pine needles will. You would have to constantly sweep up the pine needles that will shed from the tree.

5. There is no perfect tree

We cannot control how trees grow. So, be prepared to go from farm to farm, searching for that perfect one. It will either be too tall or too small or it will look like somethings not right about it. If you are too choosy, all the good ones might be gone and you might end up with that Charlie Brown tree! That is why we chose the artificial tree. Take it out from the box and it set up. You will get an instant perfect tree in minutes!!