REAL or artificial?...

Now that CHRISTmas is almost upon us this topic has come up more often than not, Do you buy a real tree or does yours come out of a box? I really think this all goes back to how you were raised I mean what did your parents get when you were a kid? My parents had all sorts of trees as we were growing up. Even some eclectic ones WAY before I was ever a glimmer in their eye. They have had BIG ones, Tall ones, ones with trains running around them & even a Silver one! But it was always out of a box. I wonder if they felt buying a "Real" tree each year was a waste of $ or did they feel that an artificial one looked better? I do not know because I never really asked. We just always took our tree out of a box each year. Now the timing of when the tree went up changed over the years. At first they would put their tree up AFTER my oldest brothers birthday on December 17th. Fast forward 12 years & I was born on the 21st {December is one BUSY month!} They "tried" to wait till after my birthday but that was not to be. I think there was a CHRISTmas tree in all of my birthday photos! =] When Michael & I got together we too would drag the CHRISTmas tree out of the box each year but we did this more of out necessity because he cannot handle when a tree sheds all of it's needles. I do LOVE the smell of a "real" tree but I too do not like the mess so artificial is the way we go! And even though a "real" tree is nice to look at & WAY better smelling we are going the less mess route! LOL! So I ask you is your tree...

REAL or artificial?...

Look at our tree!...

Oh MANY MANY moons ago my hubby planted this Mahogany tree in front of our house. It was suppose to be a sturdy tree that would stand up to the Hurricane's Florida gets from time to time. PLUS it is a native tree. Hubby is all about planting things that are native{Saves on water!}.Well I don't remember how long that tree lasted but along came Hurricane Jeanne I think & down it came. Well not entirely all of the tree but most of it did. That darn tree was rooted SO down deep that it was TOO hard to remove so we left it there. It looked terrible but the AMAZING part is that over time it survived! Before we knew it something was growing off the side of this "stump" and then it just grew & grew.

The other day I noticed something pretty special about that darn Mahogany Tree, it now has FIVE strong branches growing from that deep rooted stump. That tree was meant to be here! Now I am ALL about signs & if there was ever a sign this was it. You see the number FIVE is somewhat special to me. First off it is my most FAVORITE # & I always wanted to have FIVE children, which amazingly I now have! That's when I noticed that three of the branches were on one side and two branches on the other, almost representing the children we have! Pretty cool huh?! This was another one of those "Look at that pole" moments. LOL! When I noticed those FIVE branches I just wanted to tell my hubby...

Look at our tree!...