by Nadia Ghanny

Created on: December 11, 2007   Last Updated: March 25, 2011

REVISED MARCH 25, 2011

Christmas trees real or artificial looks just as good when decorated with beautiful ornaments and lights.  Essentially, for me it's about the decks of hollies, food, ornaments, spiced apples, eggnog, and an enormous Christmas tree decorated in all its glitter.

During my formative years in my birth land, my dad would always import for us a real pine Christmas tree for us. By the time it got to South America most of the needles would fall off. However we always managed to decorate it, which was the best part of Christmas Eve. When the lights were turned off I watched as the multicolored fairy lights danced on the walls as each decorative ornament glimmer and reflected in their shadow. 

Therefore, the question is, whether or not "live trees should be cut down for Christmas?"  There is more to Christmas than fretting over whether to get a real tree or an artificial one.   The cleaning up process for the real tree is the worst it shed all around the house and disregarding it once the season is over is another stressful factor not to mention always having to maintain the life of the tree.

The most important issue here, it's an additional expense of farming Christmas trees and expending additional funds to harvest and process them.  It's really not something, which is a need basically but a want therefore; we have to significantly evaluate the worth of our own want versus the benefits to our environment.

It would appear to be 50/50 on the decision whether to cut down trees for Christmas or not, the artificial tree given the fact its reusable and convenience with no hassles.  With the constant innovations to better the life of a product and to prevent hurting the environment, manufacturers are making better artificial trees that are environmentally friendly.  Despite the fact there are special farms that grow Christmas trees it's not necessary for us to be continuously cutting down trees to satisfy our own fancy even though its only once a year.

Furthermore, our climate is presently changing around the world as a result of pollution and other harmful chemicals in the atmosphere. Trees clean the air and are beneficial for all living organisms, and why we are able to breathe the clean air we breathe instead of the poison, which trees absorb for us. Why then we would not grow more instead of cutting them down? Instead of cutting down trees once a year for Christmas, we should make it a tradition for everyone to grow an additional tree at Christmas.

In conclusion, at the end of the day as I settle in with a hot cup of tea and watch the Christmas tree in all its magnificence I am not looking whether its real or not but looking at the beauty of the dazzling ornaments reflecting like bright jewels off of each other as gold garlands cascade down. The tree looks magnificent as it stands majestic and beautiful in all its glory.

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