We have to admit, we’re a little biased on this point, but we’ll make a case for real trees that even the grinchiest grinch of them all can’t argue with!
A Real Christmas Tree Smells Wonderful
The first and best reason to get a real Christmas tree is the smell. The gorgeous scent of an evergreen forest wafting around your house will always put you in a holiday mood. Add some decorations, eggnog, a few presents and some holiday tunes and you’ve got the makings of a great deal of merry!
Smell triggers our strongest sense memories and if you grew up having a real tree at home every year, you’ll find that bringing one into your home now will bring back some of those magical moments of your childhood Christmas past.
A Real Christmas Tree Is Excellent For The Local Economy
Christmas tree farms in Canada numbered 1,872 in 2016 and did $77.6 million dollars worth of business in the same year! That’s a lot of happy farmers in the local economy. That figure doesn’t take into account the number of trees grown and exported worldwide from Canada, which numbers almost 2 million trees, to the tune of $43.1 million dollars (again, in 2016). (Source)
These economic benefits are in contrast to the $59.5 million dollars worth of fake trees that were imported into Canada from China in 2016.
When you look at the amount of money generated by local purchases and consider the contribution to the local labour market, as well as the value of the exports, you can see the tremendous benefit to the Canadian rural economy, an area of the country that needs to leverage these renewable resources.
A Real Christmas Tree Is Better For The Environment
There’s a caveat here: a fake tree is only not too bad for the environment if you plan to keep it and reuse it for years—ideally, over 10 years. If you are going to use it and dump it after only a holiday or two, a plastic tree is just adding to already overflowing garbage landfills.
That’s not the worst part though: the production of fake trees is ecologically unsound. The almost $60 million dollars worth of fake PVC plastic trees imported from China in 2016 (see above!) travelled over 10,000 kms to get here. Real trees need dirt, water, a little fungicide, some gas to harvest and move them, and the human labour too (local labour!)
Every acre given over to growing real Christmas trees—and there’s about 70,000 acres in Canada designated for Christmas trees—creates enough oxygen for 18 people. Furthermore, real trees can be chipped, and turned into mulch, burned, or landfilled (where they will gradually breakdown) at the end of the season. Fake trees will never break down. Ever. Some areas might even incinerate fake trees; the plastic will release dangerous toxins and carcinogens into the air.
And finally, if your fake tree has attached lights but not the newer LED lights, you’re using a lot of energy to light it up every holiday season!
A Real Christmas Tree Is A Wonderful Tradition
Whether you go to a farm in the country and make a day of it, or if you go to a wonderful and festive local garden centre to pick out your perfect specimen for the year, the annual tradition is a great one to start anytime.
If you have kids, you can get them involved, picking out the tree, bringing it home and decorating it. It makes for some great screen-free family together time the memory of which you’ll cherish for the rest of the year.
Which Real Christmas Tree Is Best?
Typically, spruce, fir and pine are the best available options in Ontario. Here’s a quick pro / con list, to help you decide which would be best for your holiday:
Spruce trees —
Pro: Good symmetrical shape, dense branches, lovely dark green colour.
Con: Prickly needles.
Fir trees (our favourites!) —
Pro: Amazing smell and gorgeous dark green needles, excellent needle retention, not very prickly.
Con: A 6 week lifespan, indoors, which ranks it the shortest of all the trees.
Pine trees —
Pro: Different colour options, from green to blue, gorgeous scent, excellent needle retention, strong branches to sustain heavier decorations.
Con: Longer needles make decorations harder to see.
How To Make Sure Your Real Christmas Tree Is Recycled?
In Peel region, Christmas trees under three feet tall can be put out by the curb, along with regularly recycling, on designated days in January. The same goes for wreaths made of natural materials. If your tree is taller than three feet, you can bring it to the Peel Community Recycling Centre.
Prepare your tree for collection by making sure you’ve removed everything, particularly the following:
- Tinsel;
- Plastic bags;
- Ornament strings;
- Nails and wires (if you were using those to hold it steady and prevent it from falling over!)
- Nailed on tree stands.
Fake or real, it’s entirely up to you but when you consider the economic impact to local areas, as well as the environmental one, to say nothing of the enhancement to your home this holiday season, we think the decision is clear.
Visit Toemar from the end of November till Christmas Eve to pick up your real tree!
