Growing up my family had a fake Christmas tree. From the time I was born till I got married we had a fake tree. It was the same exact Christmas tree every year. So you can imagine what that tree must have looked like by the time I became an adult.

My dad was always the one to get the box from our basement and he was the one who put it together. Until one year when I was in my teens and he had the Flu. He couldn’t get out of bed so he reluctantly agreed to let me get it. That was the first year I put up our fake tree.

Even before I was born my dad’s family had a fake Christmas Tree. I guess it was tradition.
After my husband and I got married we needed to get a tree. I was all set to buy a fake tree. My husband on the other hand was all set to buy a real tree.

The idea of a real tree never entered my mind. So when his sister asked if we wanted to get a real tree with them from their property I thought why not. Sounds like fun. My husband tried to tell me that a tree from the woods wasn’t what he was talking about. But I had to learn the hard way – hahaha.

When our kids were little our family we went with my husbands entire family to get real Christmas Trees. We would go to a  – cut your own – Tree farm and we all picked the trees we wanted. Afterward we would all go back to grandmas house for hot chocolate.

After so many years that tradition ended. My husband and I still wanted to get a real tree with our kids so we use to go to a local tree farm. We would pick a tree, cut it down, bring it home and get it set up. We also had hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie.

Over the last couple of years my husband and I thought about getting an artificial tree. Our kids were pretty appalled at that idea. So we didn’t do it.

Now that our kids are 21, 18 and 12 my husband and I decided it was time to make life easy on us and buy an artificial tree. No more figuring out how to get the real tree in the house. No more making sure it was straight. No more watering the tree. No more sweeping up the mess the tree bristles left. No more of it taking me hours to take everything off the tree and struggling to get it out of the house.

We bought a beautiful artificial tree for the first time and we love it. It really does look like a real tree, but without the hassle. This will make life so much easier. Our kids are surprisingly okay with this new tree.

So after years of an artificial tree growing up I went to a real tree. Then after years of a real tree with my family we went to an artificial tree. I have to say I think I’m good either way, but I like the idea of not watering the tree anymore.

Tell me your thoughts. Does your family prefer a real tree or an artificial tree?