The age-old debate of real vs. fake Christmas trees has been heating up once again due to the anticipation for the holiday season.  As families around the world put up their Christmas trees, the pros and cons of each type of tree reappear: Who can beat the smell of a fresh Balsam or Fraser fir, or the longevity and sturdy needles of a fake Christmas tree?

Whether it is the garland, popcorn, cranberries, ornaments, lights, or a star, there are plenty of options to customize the Christmas tree.  Fake trees tend to offer more custom options, as they can be purchased in white or green, or with lights or no lights. Recently, there has been a surge in “smart” trees that allow you to control the lights from your smartphone. Yet for SHS students, all the bells and whistles of the modern fake trees do not compare to the smell and feel of a real tree in the home.  

 Students enjoy going out with their family to places like Aubuchon Hardware, Knights of Columbus parking lot, or Treeberry Farm to find the perfect “Griswold family Christmas tree.” Although there are many trees to choose from, there can only be one. The perfect one.

One SHS Student agrees that real trees are better: “Real trees have more of a nostalgic smell, and you get to have a different story every year.” Another student that sides with real trees said, “The smell, the look, the fact that it is real and genuine. Santa Claus won’t bring presents to people with fake trees.” Now that last part was more of a biased statement, but there are definitely better and more reasonable ways to explain why real trees might be better than fake trees.

The other side of this argument–that never ends–is the statement that fake Christmas trees are better than real Christmas trees. Instead of having to go through all that work finding a tree every year, having to take care of it, then looking for ways to dispose of it,  just go to the store or go online and find the perfect tree for every year.

SHS senior Brett Dupont has been working at Aubuchon Hardware in Cohasset for two years, and he has seen the Christmas rush come through the store: “I mean, we sell triple the real trees than we do fake trees, and that is a conservative estimate.” Aubuchon Hardware started with around 150 trees, and the total now is around 6 trees.  On the other hand, Aubuchon started with around 15 fake trees and now has around 10 left.  

SHS senior Daniel Luscombe believes that real Christmas trees reign far superior to artificial trees. Luscombe commented, “You can’t compare them–real trees are the top of the top–fake trees are lazy.” Clearly, real trees dominate over fake tress at SHS.