Real or Artificial
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Midweek Message
Real or artificial—what kind of Christmas tree will you have in your home this year? That was the question that the TODAY show explored the other day as the gigantic Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center was being prepared to be lit.
Each kind of tree has its own benefits and drawbacks. There’s no substitute for the sight and smell of a real Christmas tree. They are also more environmentally friendly since they can be recycled as mulch and wood chips, and they support local farmers and businesses. However, they can be messy in the needles they drop and fussy in the amount of water they require.
Artificial trees are more convenient. They don’t drop needles or need water. Many of them come pre-lit, and they’re reusable for many years. However, some cite the environmental cost of manufacturing artificial trees from all the plastic, and because about 80% of artificial trees are made in China, tariffs are also driving up the financial cost.
As a nation it seems we’re torn between the two. While 85% of Americans say “real Christmas trees bring joy to everyone who sees and smells them,” an NBC survey also found that about 83% of us will have an artificial tree in our home this year.
I remember growing up, our family always bought a fresh white pine tree from our friend Mr. Burnop. We were surely among the last in the town to get ours, usually venturing over to his farm the week before Christmas. But he would always hold one back for us. Suffice it to say, I have some “sappy” memories of those trees over the years. But after my dad died and my brother and I moved on, my mom eventually shifted over to artificial. We now have in our home at the parsonage the last tree she bought, which is not only pre-lit but rotates!
Regardless of where you fall on the real versus artificial debate, maybe we can all agree that what matters more is not what kind of tree it is but what is on our tree and who is around it. Whether I’m hanging them on a real white pine or a fake Frasier fir, the various ornaments we’ve collected over the years each carry memories and stories of when we got them, where we got them, who gave them to us, how old the kids were when they made them, and in some cases how old I was when I made them.
And, of course, what is most real are the “real”-ationships with those who have gathered around our trees over the years—friends and family members, some of whom are no longer with us in body but are very much present in heart and mind—and especially our relationship with the One who is the real reason we put up any kind of tree in our homes in the first place.
