Real or Fake Christmas Tree? That is the Question

I grew up with certain Christmas traditions that I always thought could not be broken without the holiday itself losing some of its meaning.

Every year, a week or two after Thanksgiving, my parents would round up me, my brother and sister on a Saturday morning and tell us to dress warm and wear gloves.

This was Christmas tree day.

Where we lived more than a few tree farms thrived. These were big plots of land where the owner – usually a family- grew rows and rows of Christmas trees.

There was a Spruce section filled with stiff, sharp and short-needled trees; and a Fir section, filled by Douglas and Fraser – America’s most popular- trees with long, loose and soft needles,

To the three of us, it looked like a vast, miniature forest, which we bolted out of the SUV to get lost in finding the perfect tree. We took turns choosing the tree, but for some reason every winter the same argument broke out over whose turn it was.

It was only after we got back home, and started decorating the tree that we had a Charlie Brown type moment, and stopped fighting and started laughing and eating cookies as we strung up lights.

Years later when I moved out and for the first time got my own tree, I got an artificial one. I felt like I was ruining Christmas. But after I got home, and began to decorate the tree I realized it does not matter. Charlie Brown had it right.

But still a part of me can’t help wondering whether live trees or artificial trees are best. So I did a little research.

Some people maybe choose a fake tree because they believe it saves a real tree or is better for the environment, but these branches of thinking bend under the weight of facts.

Live Christmas trees, like the green beans in grandma’s casserole or the turkey dad carves, overwhelmingly grow on farms. Buying one harms the environment no more and probably even less than the ingredients that go into Christmas dinner. Tree farms, which grow trees that would not otherwise exist, create a positive environmental side effect by filtering carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Some people think real trees might be more of a fire hazard, but the National Christmas Tree Association says that because both are flammable, fires, usually due to faulty wiring or carelessness, that occur would have still happened with the other type of tree.

A live tree might trigger allergies, bringing into your home pollen and sap; but fake trees bring dust and collected dirt from sitting in the closet all year.

Cost and clean-up is the only real difference. People often keep a fake tree on average about seven and a half years, so they are very cost efficient. By Christmas morning, most live trees are shedding needles like snowflakes, which makes clean-up a bit more of a hassle.

And I will tell you a secret I learned: really, I can’t tell the difference once its decorated.