Everyone has their own special holiday traditions. For more and more Black folks, those traditions do not include a real, living Christmas tree. In recent years, the popularity of artificial Christmas trees has risen.
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According to the American Christmas Tree Association, in 2023, “94 percent of consumers surveyed” planned to display a Christmas tree. Of those, 77 percent would have an artificial tree. Obviously, we don’t know how that breaks down by race, but an informal poll of your family will tell you that Black folks are steadily moving toward fake trees.
There’s a lot going on during the holiday season, and a real Christmas tree is just one thing too many to worry about. But why are Black folks making the switch?
Just to be clear, this isn’t an anti-real tree post. We just thought it was time to tackle this modern holiday debate. If you’re keeping the real Christmas tree industry alive, we applaud your courage. Turns out real trees can be dangerous.
Growing up, we all saw those public service announcements about how easily a dry tree can catch on fire. If you don’t keep your tree properly hydrated, your Christmas tree lights can spark a fire.
At some point during the season, you’re going to get tired of crouching under the tree to water it and start slacking off. If that happens, you don’t want to worry about your house burning down.
Even if you keep it watered, those little needles will invade your house and get everywhere. No matter how much you sweep or vacuum, you can never really clean them all up. Why would you deal with all that when you can just unpack an artificial tree, decorate it, enjoy, then pack it back up without worrying about excessive needles?
If you do decide to go with a real tree, good luck finding a place to buy one. With more people switching to artificial, real tree lots are becoming few and far between. They used to pop up on every vacant lot, or outside every major store, but nowadays you have to search around to find them.
Plus, if you’re lucky enough to find one, you’re quickly reminded that real Christmas trees aren’t cheap. We’re not blaming vendors for getting their money, but $65 to $175 is a lot for something you’re going to recycle in January. You can spend $100 to $150 once for a nice artificial tree and save your money for more important purchases.
Once you get to the lot and pick out a tree, you have to tie it to your car, or carry it home. When you’re done celebrating the holiday, you have to throw it away or recycle it. Sometimes you can just put it out for trash pick up, but some neighborhoods have very strict rules about how and when Christmas trees can be recycled. You know how homeowner’s associations are. If you don’t follow their rules to the letter, it might be a hassle to get rid of your tree.
And perhaps the most important reason people are moving toward fake trees involves their decorations. You have a very specific holiday aesthetic in mind and a real tree isn’t going to help you accomplish that. You know what your holiday vibe is and the perfect artificial tree is how you get it. We’re not judging, do you!
At the end of the day, your traditions are about what works best for you. However, Black folks have enough craziness going on the rest of the year, we deserve less stress at Christmastime. Nowadays, that means trading in a freshly cut, authentic tree for a store bought, quality alternative.
Just remember, the most important thing is that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, just remember to do what’s best for you.
Straight From 
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