It is time to retire old evergreen trees that leave scattered needles across your living room floor and cost a fortune to purchase year after year. Plastic Christmas trees are a one-time purchase that will last you a lifetime, save your living room floor from becoming a forest, and prevent those around you from getting severe allergy attacks and bronchitis every Christmas season.
My family has had the same plastic Christmas tree since 2015, and it’s in pristine shape. Not only is the tree wonderful for its durability and lack of killing my lungs, it’s nostalgic to grow up with a tree that sees the end of every year with you.
I love reassembling our tree each Nov. 1, decorating it the day after Thanksgiving and leaving it up until January just because we can. Since the tree is fake, we could leave it up year-round if we wanted to and it would remain in great condition. Evergreens can only survive for four to five weeks, which wouldn’t even carry you to Christmas if you are an early decorator.
A six foot tall fir Christmas tree at Lowe’s costs $69.98, compared to an artificial six foot pine tree priced at $49.08. Your options are either to spend $20 more for a tree that will die in five weeks or pick the cheaper option that will last for years — the choice is obvious.
The biggest bonus of a plastic Christmas tree is that it does not affect my delicate, allergy-riddle immune system. When I was six or seven, my mom discovered my constant bouts of bronchitis and pneumonia in winter were linked to severe allergies of anything with pollen, making the pine Christmas tree a death trap. Ever since, we have strayed away from real Christmas trees.
Although I rejoice in not picking up pine needles every day and avoiding the freezing trip to the tree farm, my mother is not on the same page. When I informed her I was writing this article, she said, “You’re just allergic, or we’d have a real one.” Why she would want a giant fire-hazard messier than all her children combined is beyond me.
I was able to persuade her to my side by pointing out that small animals often climb the trees and reminded her of the squirrel-in-the-house incident of 2013. If you’ve ever seen “Pluto’s Christmas Tree,” it went exactly like that, without the happy inclusion of the invaders in the Christmas celebration at the end.
With plastic trees, you can purchase them in the exact size you want. You could have a pre-lit tree on your desktop, hiding in the corner at three feet tall, or taking over your living room at a towering nine feet. The specificity of sizing is a college student’s dream when trying to fit a tree in a dorm or apartment. The option to have your tree come pre-lit prevents the time, stress and additional cost of Christmas lights.
Photo courtesy of Taste of Home.