I grew up in the pacific northwest and EVERY year we bought a real-fresh-dead Christmas Tree. Charming grew up mostly in Florida where if they had real trees they cost like a million dollars or something so he always had a fake tree. The first Christmas that Charming and I were married, we were poor students with little storage space. I didn’t want to buy a tree stand and a tree, so we decided on a $20 fake from Wal-mart.

We’ve been using that tree for the past seven years.

This year, on a whim, I bought us a real tree. I was so anxious I bought it like December 5th or something. It dried up completely two days later, and we had a fire hazard in our house for the next four+ weeks. But there were some definite things I enjoyed about it, as well as the er.. drawbacks.

So for your education, my post Christmas analysis of buying a real tree versus pulling the fake one out of the garage.

Category 1: The deadness factor Perhaps this category should be more appropriately dubbed, the fire hazard factor, as both real and fake trees are in a sense already dead. Real tree scores in this category for fresh smell, but loses points in the fact that it "dies more" over time. Fake tree gets the plus in the unchangedness of it’s lack of living.

Category 2: Maintenance and Convenience

When you put the fake tree up, you pull it out of the garage, decorate it and that is the end until you take it down. Score for the tree in a box. real trees must be shopped for (both a plus and a minus depending on your sense of Christmas adventure).  Real trees need to be watered (until they stop drinking) and they shed much pine needles which need to be vacuumed. I would give this a minus two points except that I actually like vacuuming and the pine needle vacuuming created a fresh smell. Minus 1 point for the watering.

Category 3: Variations

With a real tree, you get something different every year. Plus one. Fake trees are the same year in and year out. Minus one.

Category 4: The Easter Bunny Factor I once heard that in Norway they leave their Christmas tree out until Easter as symbolism of the birth and resurection. Since I have Norwegian ancestry, I have always felt rather justified in leaving my tree out until March or even April. (I kid you not). But since real trees become a fire hazard so quickly, I took ours down just after new years. This can be a plus or a minus depending on how long you like to celebrate Christmas for. I actually think though that the real tree scores in this category.

Category 5: Authenticity I think real trees create more warm and fuzzy feelings of tradition and chestnuts. Fake trees have a metal pole running up the middle– that just doesn’t tug at my heart strings. And since every analysis needs a chart:

 Well the results reveal that the fake tree is better than the real tree by a one point advantage.  These are just the facts folks, I am not biased.  Because honestly, I think I might go real again next year.  Piney smell gets like 10 points in my book.  And the vacuuming….