Benefits of a fake Christmas tree

For most of the years we have been married, I have tried to convince Jenny to get a fake Christmas tree. Jenny grew up with real Christmas trees all her life and I grew up helping my mom setup the fake tree every year. This year we (including Jenny's parents) convinced her to get a fake tree. After shopping around, the most realistic looking tree ended up being a 12 footer that we found at Costco. They were sold out all over Puget Sound and this tree was the display model. I was a bit concerned because it didn't come in a box, but after taking down the display model, there is no way the tree would fit back into the two boxes. So no boxes ended up not being a big deal.

Here are some of the benefits of a fake tree that helped convince Jenny:

1. Fixed cost. No more $45+/year for a real tree
2. No expenses in disposing of the tree after Christmas
3. No need to water the tree every day
4. The tree never dries out
5. No fire danger
6. Pine needles do not fall all over the ground
7. Bigger tree
8. No tent caterpillar (One year we got up in the morning and there were little caterpillars all over the living room. What fun.)
9. The tree can be put up early (around Thanksgiving).
10. No bald spots. (I wish I could say that for me. ;)
11. Looks just like a real tree. (It has fooled a number of people already.)
12. No killing of Christmas trees each year.
    

The negatives of this fake tree are:

1. No evergreen smell
2. Have to find a place to store it in the "off" season
3. Need to spend 1-2 hours taking it out of storage and setting it up and 1-2 hours taking it down and putting it into storage.