When my kids were small, we always went for the real Christmas Trees. However, when they got a bit older, my wife and I made the switch.

And, to be honest, we've never looked back. By "we," I mean Amy and me. The kids still complain about the decision to go "fake."

After a bunch of years of heading out to the local tree farms or buying Christmas Trees at Highcrest Center and other "tree lots," Amy and I determined that we were tired of trudging out into the cold to find a tree, tired of paying the ever-increasing prices, tired of the watering and mess (and some creepy-crawly stowaways), and tired of the post-holiday clean up.

We went with a pre-lit artificial tree that looks amazingly life-like. You really have to get right up into the branches before you realize it's not real. Assembly is quick and easy, as is disassembly. It actually looks and performs better than any real tree we've ever had.

The kids still seem to find it offensive. But, other than come with us when we used to grab a real tree for Christmas, their biggest involvement in the process was grabbing presents from underneath the tree on Christmas morning--so we're really not troubled by their grousing.

As for the rest of America, real trees are still the real deal. At least for now.

Here are a few "Real Versus Fake Trees" facts.

The sales figures from the National Christmas Tree Association show that throughout the years, Americans have preferred to put their presents under a real Christmas tree - in 2018, for example, they purchased 32.8 million real Christmas trees, while 23.6 million fake trees were purchased.

(CBS News):

According to CBS News, 80 percent of Americans put up artificial trees.

(Accuweather):

In 1989, about 40 percent of homes displaying Christmas trees used an artificial tree. That number increased to 58 percent in a 2004 ABC News/Washington Post poll. And in 2016, that number was up to 81 percent, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen on behalf of the American Christmas Tree Association, (ACTA).

(USA Today):

Of the estimated 95 million American households with Christmas trees this year, 81% will display fake ones, according to an American Christmas Tree Association survey conducted by Nielsen.

 

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