Frugal Christmas Tree Question

I got this question from Stephany:

Just a quick question. This is our first year together, and we are trying to decide what is best for getting a tree. Artifical ones cost so much, and the real ones seem so wasteful. Do you have any ideas?

Congratulations on your first year together! Woo hoo. Many happy years to you both!

I think there are two different issues here...firstly, is there a preference either of you have? I know a few guys that are totally adamant about the "real tree" thing. I have done a real tree before and all it took was one year of sweeping up pine needles (and finding them periodically for a few years!), that we decided against that. If you have a fire place, a friend of mine who insists on a real tree each year bundles her Christmas tree branches up and uses them in her fire place (with other wood), for a nice, pine-fresh smell. She just lights the fire, has the other logs in there, and then gently lays the fresh branches over the top. I think it smells nice too, but alas, I have no fire place, and I have a hard time keeping my tree laying around until the first June bon fire. LOL

However, secondly, the cost of a brand new artificial tree, purchased right before the holidays, is very costly. Most newlyweds (or oldyweds ;)) don't have $100 bucks (or more) to drop on an once-a-year decoration.

The solution, for us, was to purchase one AFTER Christmas, with a gift card my mom had given me. The tree (regular price was over $150) was less than $20, and was "pre lit"...that means, the lights were incorporated into the design, and instead of having to wrestle with your light strings each year, and have oodles of wires hanging all over the place (overloading your sockets), you have just one wire coming neatly out of the bottom of the tree, and you have lights that are neatly positioned all over the tree evenly. If at all possible, I strongly recommend a pre lit tree.