Blogging Away Debt

The Christmas Debate: Live Tree or Fake Tree?

The great debate has begun around here as we are all itching to decorate for Christmas. Should we have a fake tree or a live tree?

And we are going to make a decision the week we return from Texas. Can you help us decide?

Benefits of a Fake Tree

My whole life we had a fake tree. Then when I got out on my own, I purchased my own pre-lit fake tree. It was awesome!

No detangling light strands. No rearranging the light strands to make sure there were no holes. Just pop it up, plug it in and decorate.

That is, until a bulb went out and shut down a whole section of the tree lights. Or when I wanted white lights instead of color or vice versa.

And storing it was a pain. Getting it back in the box was always a trial. (My grandmother finds it such a chore, she leaves hers up all year in one of her extra rooms.) But then we could put it in storage and forget about it for the rest of the year.

Benefits of a Real Tree

There is nothing quite like the smell of a real tree. And not being pre-lit you can change the light colors as often as you’d like.

Not to mention, purchasing your live tree from the Boy Scouts of America is a great way to support the local troops in your area. (My little cousin is a Boy Scout, we purchased our tree from him last year.)

And storing it…not necessary. We just drag it out to the street when we are done and the trash collectors pick it up. Easy, peasy! Although we do have to store the tree stand we purchased last year, but that is much smaller than a Christmas Tree in a box.

The Cost of a Christmas Tree

I believe the one time cost of a real or fake Christmas tree is the about same. Obviously, there are cheaper ones or more expensive ones.

But over time, the real trees are going to cost more. I don’t see any way around this. Do you? Simply because you must purchase a new tree every year. And I don’t believe you have to replace fake trees very often. Am I wrong?

I suppose if you are looking at it from a money only perspective, the fake tree makes the most sense. But I am so drawn to having a real tree again this year.

Tell me about your Christmas Tree and why you chose a real or fake tree? We are going to put a tree up the week after Thanksgiving so I have to make a decision soon.

Thanksgiving Table UPDATE!

by Ashley

I got my FREE hand-me-down table this week! Ain’t she a beauty?

Do you enjoy how I still have pumpkin decorations out, I also have a “Give Thanks” sign, plus a wooden Christmas tree all in one picture? We’re celebrating a merging of the holidays this year, lol.

I love it! Fits the space perfectly and it’s just what I need!

It took a bit of finagling to get it here – it would not fit in my car, so I had to completely disassemble it and then reassemble it at home. But it was an easy job (especially compared to some of the other labor-intensive jobs I’ve been completing recently) and didn’t take long.

Now I’ve got seats for two at the kitchen island PLUS seats for four at the new-to-us table. And it’s nicer than I’d imagined. Very sturdy – real wood, etc. It came from a home with no kids, so I think that may be a factor (kids sure do have a way of destroying furniture, am I right? lol)

Here’s the last “fun” thing this has allowed….. I can now use my office space!!! The house has a little office, but I haven’t had a desk. Wellll, I do have this small circular table. I bought it from Big Lots about 10 years ago, when I first moved to Tucson. It was our kitchen table for years and years when it was just hubs and me (it only seated two). When the girls were old enough to transition from high chairs to real chairs, we bought a new table (which I left with him when I moved), but I kept the little two-seater table. The two barstools I’ve been using at our kitchen island came from the circular table. And the table has just been placed in the dining room “space” but without chairs (and it was never used because it only sat two so it’d be the same situation as at our island – where the girls sit and I stand to eat. Since there weren’t enough seats we just never sat there). Now that we have a “real” table in the dining room, I’ve moved the two-seater table into my office space. I plan to leave it’s two barstools at the kitchen island. But I’ll take one of the tall seats from the new-to-us table and move it into the office (we only need seats for three at the table, so its fine to remove a chair and if we ever have guests, I can obviously move the chairs around). I’ll now have the tall circular table as my office desk!!!!

Ignore then clutter. I’ll hang the picture and need to organize the room a bit still, but this gives you an idea of the set-up.

It’s not ideal. I’d prefer an “actual” desk at some point. But in truth, I’m quite used to working at this table. I’ve never had a real desk at home (I’ve never had an official office space at home before), so I always work at our kitchen table (or kitchen island for the past few months). As I said, for years and years, this circular table WAS our only kitchen table so I remember many a night, up late working on my dissertation, sitting at this exact table.

I’m excited we’ll have a table where we can all sit together for our thanksgiving meal. And I’m also excited that I now actually get to use the office space that has just been sitting (and used mostly as a junk space/storage for the past couple months). I get to reclaim the space, do some organizing, and in no time it will feel like a nice little office. I even have a window I can look out as I’m working. Pretty pumped about the furniture situation and how I’ve been able to make-do with what we use a hand-me-down piece of furniture to totally transform two different areas in my home: the dining room & the office! Woohoo!!!