Do you like 'em real or fake?

Do you find Christmas only in the details or the big picture? Often, people, especially women, get so caught up in making sure that every detail of the holiday season is completely perfect that they lose the overall joy of the occasion.

Men and women approach the holidays completely differently. Just yesterday I received an email from a friend of mine letting me know where I can get a free holiday planner and a notice that we are officially under 100 days until Christmas. Women plan, almost over plan, for decorating, buying presents, cooking the huge meals, yet maintaining a budget. Men, well, men just buy a few presents the day before or week before Christmas, make sure they have time off work, and they think their duties are done. Then as the women corral all the decorations from the basement, attic, or garage (or all 3 in my household), the men get to help get that massive tree up.

Now back to the matter at hand, which tree does your household prefer? Does your family use the same tree every year that cleans up neatly at the end of the year and saves perfectly until next year? Or does your family make a trip to see all the freshly cut trees and pick out the perfectly shaped one?

My family has done both. One Christmas, we all went as a family to the local store and picked out a tree we thought was perfect. We got it home, dad drilled the hole in the bottom, mom made room through the house, and the kids all just got in the way (too little to help but big enough to make it impossible to work around). As mom and dad were bringing our perfect tree into the house, they stood it up in the tree base and quickly realized it was about a foot too tall for the ceilings in our house. My dad then said he could cut one part of the branch off and it would work great. He did. Then the bottom third of the tree fell into the carpeted living room floor. Our perfect Christmas tree was still perfect, just a full 2 feet shorter than it was prior to us "fixing" it.

We then switched to the artificial tree which makes little to no mess but in our families grand fashion, we bought what must be a 9 foot tree. It is spectacular. When we had a two story living room it would take your breath away when it was all decorated. 

The frugal response would be that an artificial tree will last several years and eventually you will get more use and dollar value. The kid inside me says that I used to love going to pick out our tree every year and would like for my family to know that same joy.

This is a topic that I don't feel has a true answer, but can spark some interesting memories and conversations. So, what do you prefer - real or fake?