Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
And artificial tree is well artificial. So the question is do you value the imperfection and randomness that is the real tree over the consistency of a fake tree.
Time wise I think they are about equal. To make an artificial tree look nice there is a lot of fluffing and bending of branches. This is compared with cutting your real tree up at the end and tossing in your green bin. To me it’s a wash.
The mess Ive never really noticed. It’s just sweeping which I do anyways and doesn’t increase sweeping load.
Bugs I hadn’t heard or experienced that as an issue so Ive never considered that risk.
So I guess outside of price I don’t see downside in either risk or increased worm. As for price I think it really depends on one you are getting. My preference is that cheap artificial trees look awful whereas a crappy real tree looks nice. In this set of preferences going into the woods and cutting down a tree (including gas cost) works out the same or cheaper than an artificial tree.
Environmentally the artificial one is probably better because of gas consumption.
So the above is the logical reason that it’s a wash between fake and real. The real reason is the emotional one.
Going out and cutting down a tree is a fun Christmas tradition. The smell and appearance of the real tree triggers memories that the artificial ones don’t.
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I like real trees, but IMO they are definitely a bit more time/work than artificial. Refilling the water every day or two can be a bit of a pain, and there is definitely more cleanup work.
Another big drawback can be allergies/air quality. I'm sure some trees/years are worse than others, but it was a bit of an epiphany last time we went real and realized it.
We bought our artificial used, so I'm pretty much a hero.
We don't do this now, but the ultimate time saver if you have a spare room is to take off the most fragile ornaments and then just move the whole thing for the other 11 months. It kills some of the ritual (though you've still got other decor, stockings, and a few ornaments to replace, etc), but it's nice in the years where it feels like a real chore to do the whole tree.