Fake or Real?: A head-to-head on the best kind of Christmas tree

Fake Tree – Lyda Cosgrove

I’m all for holiday traditions. You can find me frosting Christmas cookies, humming “Last Christmas” for weeks on end and driving around every night to admire extravagant neighborhood light displays. But one thing that’ll never be on my holiday bucket list is the messy and unnecessary tradition of dragging your whole family to pick out a tree, arguing over which is the best, just to cut it down from its natural environment and haul it home — only for it to dry out in a few weeks. 

I’m perfectly content with my plastic Target tree that’s been with my family for eight years now. I’ll stick with being a store-bought type of girl instead of a lumberjack. 

Besides, by the time Christmas morning arrives, the tree is basically dying already. With a fake tree, there’s no limit to when Christmas has to end. Want to enjoy the sentimental ornaments and shimmering lights until New Year’s? Nothing’s stopping you. The life of a real tree is short-lived and a difficult clean-up. 

As much as I love the holidays, I’ll admit there’s a lot of stress too. On top of the shopping and planning, why add the extra clean-up of spiky pine needles that shed everywhere? I’m not lazy, I’m practical. I want my days leading up to Christmas to be spent sipping hot cocoa by the fire, not sweeping up tree remnants in addition to my existing long list of chores. 

Not only are the needles a mess and a pain to step on, but you have to keep up with refilling the tree’s water daily so it doesn’t die on you. Because what happens to a dried out tree? It becomes a fire hazard. My perfect plastic tree folds up nice and neat into its designated box, prepped and ready for its annual debut 12 months later. No maintenance necessary.

And let’s face it — the holidays are an expensive time of year. Between buying gifts for every extended family member and paying for holiday experiences like ice skating and family photos, there are price tags everywhere you look. What’s another yearly expense? That’s right — a Christmas tree. While real tree prices can range anywhere from $25 for a measly Charlie Brown tree to the seventies if you want a good one, buying a fake tree is a one-and-done deal and doesn’t require another chunk of money.

While I can see that there’s something magical about going to pick out your own tree and enjoying the fresh pine smell in your house everyday, that’s nothing a Bath and Body Works wintery balsam candle can’t do. 

There are plenty of other magical Christmas traditions that put you in the festive spirit just as much, if not more. So ditch the mess of an authentic evergreen and head to Target for a dependable faux tree, sure to last for many Christmases to come. 

Real Tree – Campbell Wood

“Jingle Bell Rock” playing at the mall, drifts of snow resting in tree limbs and twinkling lights strung down every street are all strong indicators that it’s time to break out the winter coats and pop some sugar cookies in the oven. But when I wake up in the morning to the smell of fresh cedar, I truly know it’s Christmas time — and it’s a feeling no car freshener or candle could accurately replicate.

When it comes to Christmas trees, my family is a bunch of Buddy-the-Elves loaded up on maple syrup. We refuse to take a fake tree, and get our tree the old-fashioned way: cutting it down. In a tradition that started with my great grandfather, there’s been four generations of trekking through a forest of deer droppings and sticker bushes to find the perfect tree — deep olive green, fuller than Santa’s belly, single-stumped and strong branches to hold even the heaviest ornaments. 

And while we have certain qualities we always look for in a tree, each year brings a unique tree and a new box of sap-covered memories to unwrap. Instead of looking at the same “Made-in-China” tree every year, we get a fresh one with its own personality. 

Some faux tree-goers may think the upkeep of a real tree might sound like a hassle, but it’s really not that bad. Just a pre-display trim and daily watering are worth it for a living room with the sweet cedar smell that exemplifies Christmas. And you say you want to haul a dust-covered replica out of your attic each year? I’d prefer a trip to the farm with a cup of cocoa over a trip to my attic any day.

Yes, there are environmental arguments about cutting down real trees, but there are actually underlying benefits that make them more environmentally friendly than fake trees. Most Christmas trees like fraser firs are grown on tree farms, making them a harvestable crop. Additionally, cedar and pine trees are considered invasive species, so cutting them down is actually doing the landowner a favor.

It’s in my blood at this point to only take the real deal. Having a real tree in your home is a thrilling excitement you just can’t get from a $400 plastic tree. If you make the 30-minute drive out to a cedar tree farm, you get an adventure with your family, a morning of memories and a free tree. The most my family’s ever paid for a Christmas tree is $15, and that was a suggested donation.

The Christmas tree is the center of Christmas — literally. It’s what you bundle up next to with family, find presents encircling it on the 25th and serves as a home’s centerpiece for the holiday season. With a fake tree, you don’t get to cheesily yell, “TIMBER!” as the tree falls down or load it up in your car — fulfilling that “Christmas Vacation” aesthetic. They’re simple memories that you get to recreate every year — simple, real memories.