Why I Love My "Fake" Christmas Tree

Three choices for Christmas trees:
Fresh cut - as good as dead, but can be useful in some ways
Balled - a living tree with balled roots that is planted after Christmas
Faux - can be purchased with or without lights on & lasts practically forever

​I know, theres nothing like the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree but I don't like the idea of cutting down and killing a perfectly good tree just to throw it away after the holidays. If I had a use for it and it wasn't going to go to waste, well then I might feel differently.  Or maybe not.... For many years we purchased a living tree with the root ball and all. We would plant it after Christmas and after a few years we had a nice border down the side of the yard. That was when we lived on a large piece of property and had lots of room to plant. Now we don't have the room, or need, to plant a living Christmas tree so a fake, or faux, tree it is!

​After Christmas about 14 or so years ago I was checking out the holiday clearance at Franks Nursery (when it was still here) and there it was: the beautiful 'fake' tree I would own for longer than I could ever have dreamed.  That day I purchased my 7.5' Christmas tree and I can't even tell you what I paid for it, but I know it was worth it!  It was the only one left and I couldn't believe my luck. I have been using it ever since and figure I have easily saved close to $1,000 over the years! I really love my artifical tree and as you can see it is still in the original box!  

​The tree is simple and has no lights on it. The center 'stem' is two parts that connect together and branches that connect around the stem working upwards. The top is a separate piece that goes on last. I fluff out the branches as I go and I think it is perfect! I have put the tree up for so many Christmas' that I don't even need the directions to assemble it anymore! It is plain, and it is simple.  

​I know a lot of the fake trees available today have lights on them and that this could be a huge time saver (putting on and taking off the lighs can be a hassle), however I am glad my tree doesn't. First, have you really ever changed a bulb on Christmas lights? I have and I can tell you sometimes it's a real pain.  Permanent lights on a tree takes that burned out buld replacement to a new level that I am not interested in! With my simple try I like the freedom to change things up. I am not 'stuck' with the same lights year after year, especially if they're not LED's!  Traditional white lights with an angel at the top of the tree this year? No problem. A colorful star at the top with multicolored with low energy LED colored lights another year? Easy peasy.  I like having the the freedom to change it up every year if I want to and a simple tree with no permanent lights allows me to do this. 

​Best of all, it's still lookds as good as new every year :-)

Artificial Tree Pros:

• No needlessly killing trees
• No more watering the tree daily (and spilling it on the floor!)
• No more pine needles all over the house (maybe my favorite part....have you ever gotten one stuck in your foot?)
• NO fire hazzard! (That is a biggie!) Dry trees cause many fires in homes every year.
• Can leave the lights on as long as I like with no fire hazard
• Can leave the tree up longer becasue it looks good all the time since it is not approaching death
• No need to go out to look for, and spend money, on a tree every year
• Saving MONEY!!  Yes, I said it twice :-)

Cons:

• Miss that fresh cut smell but we fixed that with the use of essential oils that smell like a fresh cut tree! 
• Need a place to store it until next year (depending upon the size of the tree they do take up space)
• Miss that trip to buy the tree with the family,  but now we have our family time when we put all the memory ornaments on the tree. Check out our Memory Tree post here.

In my opinion the benefits far outweight the negatives.
​Super simple, and super worth it!

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​Sincerely,