Tree: real or artificial?

Holly tree.

I can't imagine Christmas without a tree. So much so that when we were snowed in 3 years ago we cut our own from the garden, a rather garish variegated holly that I couldn't wait to get rid of. It made a fabulous tree.

I always find myself pondering the annual issue of whether or not to get an artificial tree this year. Personally I love real trees. I look at the artificial ones and am so nearly swayed by the common sense notion of not having to purchase another for many years to come and many are really quite good looking nowadays. But it just doesn't right substituting real for fake. And when J comes into the equation we always end up with a real tree.

Thinking it unlikely that J would change his mind on this issue this year I decided to have a look for inspiration on creating our own reusable tree. And I found plenty! Here's my pinterest board for lots of ideas. I love so many of these, I think that they look great, are Christmassy but don't feel fake at all. The tree flat against the wall wouldn't work here but I like the idea of creating a 3d tree with wood from the garden. All I would need is something through the middle to support it. But we have our tree for this year now so I think that this is an idea that I will keep on the back burner for the future.