Real or Fake?

Sorry for the long hiatus. There's been lots going on, although nothing of huge significance. We did take our adults-only trip to Vegas, which was really fun. I would tell you about it, but you know, it's Vegas, so it all stays there. Not really, of  course. I am so wild that out first night there I went to bed at 9:30. My excuse is that I was still on East Coast time, and I had to get up at 3:30am to catch my flight out there. So, I was up for about 21 hours. That's the best I can muster at age 36.

Anyway, we did have a great time, and it was a much-needed getaway, just before the crazy fun of the Thanksgiving-Christmas onslaught. The wildest thing was that my sister and her husband just happened to roll into town the last night we were there, so we got to have dinner with them. And the day before that we randomly ran into some friends from Raleigh and had a fun night out with them. We had some ridiculously amazing meals, and I had a great time window shopping the multitude of high-end retail shops.

The restaurant highlights:

Okay, back to current time. Thanksgiving was lots of fun, and fairly relaxing, which is always nice. It seems that most of Raleigh decorated their homes immediately following the turkey feast. We, however, did not. I'm a one holiday at a time kind of girl. I don't like for the Christmas decorations to go up when there are still Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge.

Also, I'm lazy.

We will decorate this weekend. But here's the thing: 2 or 3 years ago, we got an artificial tree. I swore up and down for years and years that I would NEVER do something so crazy. But then we got a really good deal on a pre-lit tree, and it seemed SO EASY, and we decided to purchase.

I have hated it ever since.

It's a nice-looking tree. Really nice, actually. But we have to haul it down in sections from the attic, which is annoying. Oh, and it takes up a ton of space in the attic, and storage is already at a premium in our too-small house. I can't find a good picture of it, but here's my best effort. Clearly, we need a tree skirt. This is from 2 years ago:

Then there are the lights. Pre-lit seems like a great idea. And it is, when the lights are all working. Ours, however, do not all work. So every year, the fake tree requires that we put a new strand of lights of 3 on it.

Plus, it doesn't smell like a Christmas tree. And I like that smell.

So, this year, I declared that the fake tree will either stay in the attic or go on Craigslist. A real tree will grace our living room, dropping needles all month, and we'll like it.

What about you? Do you prefer real or fake?