The quick change from Thanksgiving to the start of December and the holiday season leaves families facing the same festival feud: bring home a freshly cut Christmas tree, or buy a brand-new, pre-lit, buildable tree that lasts for years.
As someone who has both, I feel like I can give an extremely honest answer. My dad has always gotten a real tree from a nice farm in Connecticut, and while it makes the process the slightest bit more special, all of that magic disappears the second we’re lugging a 45 pound, wet Christmas tree through the door. Spending precious family time together fighting over which way it’s leaning and how we need to fix the stand and if it’s going to fall over; for my family, the tree most definitely will fall.
Meanwhile, the past few years my mom has re-used the same buildable tree we bought from Lowe’s, saving time, energy, and still illuminating the holiday spirit. It takes all of 20 minutes to assemble and leaves little to no mess.
A common reason people stick to real trees is because they believe a fake tree could never fill the house with the same piney smell and holiday spirit. What may come as a shock to some people is that there are little green sticks people can hang on their trees to mimic that amazing evergreen, pine tree smell. They are pretty much invisible once on a tree and make the tree seem so much more alive.
Doesn’t a fake tree strip the magic and joy from the holiday season? Simple answer. No. While I used to love going out to pick a tree, and it felt like a tradition I could hold onto forever, what made me even happier was being able to put our tree up right after Halloween! The assembly, the process, and the low-maintenance of our fake tree was life-changing. We spent more time arranging ornaments, putting up other decorations, and not bickering about holding it in place and finding the perfect angle to make it straight.
Although a fake tree can be expensive upfront, a new tree every year definitely adds up. Depending on the type of tree people may like and the height they need, trees range from $75-$250. After a couple years with a reusable tree, the cost seems less and less significant. Putting price aside, sometimes people do throw their Christmas trees out for repurposing uses, like for mulch, but the majority of the time the trees are thrown into landfills. Throwing away your Chsirtmas tree can emit an absurd amount of greenhouse gas. Trees release stored carbon when being destroyed in landfills, leading to a release of greenhouse gases.
With everything said, as long as you’re surrounded by loved ones, the holiday magic will never leave. In the end, it truly is about making memories with your family and whether that be from a box or the ground.
