Real or fake a festive debate

I love this time of year, decorating the house for Christmas, crafting wreaths, decorations and generally playing the festive games of Instagram.

For a fair few years we had an artificial tree, but it never felt quite the same as a real one. I used to love the annual tradition of picking a tree with my dad at the local garden centre. I still maintain I have a knack of picking a good tree, so I’m sure that’s why he took me 😊

When we moved into our current home on 14^th December 2015 hubby told me we were to use the artificial tree, which we’d had in the loft for years, and that made sense – the house was draining the bank account and buying a tree wasn’t exactly on his priority list. One day after he left for work, I hired a van and did it all myself. By the time he was home it was decorated and complete. I’ve always been pretty headstrong.  

So more recently and with the arrival of the little ones. I’ve found myself picking up the old tradition. Hubby has accepted that only a real tree will do for me. And so heading out all wrapped up to pick up the tree has become a family outing. Plus, I’ve found the perfect stockist to deliver. No more hiring vans - yippee.

The sustainability question has always been a concern for me. Even as a little girl it made me sad seeing the trees cut and to this day I hate to see the browning trees half shoved into a brown bin or abandoned outside a house come mid-January. It’s made me do a bit of research, and luckily, I’m quite happy with my findings.

Christmas trees are grown specifically on farms as any other crop would be. They suck carbon dioxide from the air as they grow and tend to be grown on land which is poor quality and not good enough for other produce. It typically takes 10 years to product a farm where each year you cut your oldest crops, replacing them with seedlings for 10 years.

Plastic trees are more unkind to the environment in their production, many are made in China, adding to pollution as they are shipped, generally they are not recyclable plastic – so ultimately they will end up in landfill. It’s not really the best option.

So, now that I know I don’t need to feel guilty about my two cut trees. I’ve helped the environment plus, I’ve supported a local family business and local economy.

I met Nicola from Bellasize Christmas Trees last year whilst we worked side by side on a project for another local company, I immediately loved their concept. Bringing the street pop up Christmas tree stalls like in London to our area. It felt festive, nostalgic and added bonus - the guys are a lovely bunch to deal with. They also had great marketing ideas so we instantly bonded in getting creative.

This year Nicola asked if I’d like to help a little with their marketing in return for a tree, and obviously I was delighted to help. We’d have bought our tree from them anyway, so a thank you freebie was a bonus. Actually, it meant that we have two because, well, you have to support local businesses don’t you?!

The main base for Bellasize is up at Gilberdyke, not too far from us. The had a vast selection, with a coffee / hot chocolate stand, hog roads stand, and literally all the trimmings. The kids wrote letters to Santa, posed with the ginormous tree whilst I did the important job of finding the perfectly balanced tree. (Actually, hubby has since likened my choice to me saying “oh you’ve picked a tree like you really then, a little larger round the bottom”).

We were given a baby seedling tree to plant in the garden which was probably my favourite little added extra touch.

Our 7ft tree for the lounge cost £40 which is really excellent value, and the 9ft would have been £50. Both gorgeous trees! Thank you Bellasize x