The real tree experience - would I do it again?

Well today I started taking down the christmas tree. Much earlier than usual, usually we atleast keep it up for the new year but My living room is in such a mess and I figure if I could atleast get that corner back from the christmas tree I'd have somewhere to stick everything! Not to mention, nobody has watered the thing since before christmas and it's literally raining pine needles! I asked the kids to move their toys from under the tree so I could clean up the pine needles and Donald got one stuck in his thumb just under the nail! I got a needle and tried digging it out but he kept screaming saying it hurts so i searched for the tweezers instead, again he kept screaming saying it hurts! I showed him my pinky where I have a bit of lead from a pencil stuck under the skin since the third grade and told him I wouldn't let anyone take it out from my finger and if he doesn't let me get the pine needle out of his it will stay there forever. I started poking at it with the needle again and encouraged him to be brave telling him it was coming out now, Finally I pulled it out with the tweezers and we were all relieved.

This morning I started pulling off all the decorations and packing them away. I thought about whether next year we would get another real tree or go artificial. Artificial trees are practical, they have strong branches all over and the pines don't fall off but they don't smell nice and they look fake and tacky. Not to mention, where to store it. Plus we did have the tree stand now, and at £10 it would be nice to use it more than once. However, with the real tree the Branches on the lower half were quite weak and couldn't support any decorations so the bottom half seemed naked compared to the top, There was that lovely pine smell though, and over all it appeared more christmassy. I'd like to think I would get a real tree again, Only if it was a smaller one (my size maximum) and only if it had good strong branches all over. That's a year away though so we have plenty of time to decide! the best part was going out as a family to find one so yes I do think we would do it again it was a great experience! for now getting it out of my home without making a trail of pine needles will be quite an experience!