Trees get real this Christmas

Traditions die hard. In some cases, they don’t die at all.

Real Christmas trees - spruces and firs - were for years losing ground to artificial trees - plastic and aluminum. But in the last several years, the trend has reversed.

“People like the smell that goes with a real tree, that pleasant wood odor. It’s something the artificial tree can’t match,” said Thomas G. Cranston of the Cranston Tree Farm in Ashfield, where nearly 30,000 Christmas trees are in various stages of cultivation.

“There is also something to connecting with a product of nature instead of something that came out of a factory,” he said.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the number of real trees sold in the United States grew 40 percent from 2003 to 2005 while sales of artificial trees declined 3 percent. Nevertheless, about twice as many artificial Christmas trees will be on display this season in the United Stated as real ones.

The back-to-nature trend in Christmas trees is apparently an all-the-way-back trend. Crowds are large at “cut your own” farms. However, with the mild, snow-free weather and the declining number of Christmas tree farms in Western Massachusetts there could be a looming shortage of trees for self-harvesting.

“It’s overwhelming not only our farm, but other growers throughout the state,” Cranston said.

Real or fake? Choosing between the two has environmental consequences that aren’t always clear cut, said Peggy MacLeod of the Center for Ecological Technology in Northampton. Yes, real trees are recyclable and renewable, but artificial trees are reusable.

But going to a local Christmas tree farm or nursery and cutting or buying your own “would be absolutely the most environmentally friendly thing to do,” MacLeod said.

If Christmas tree growers are seeing any trends in what people are shopping for in a holiday tree, it may be size.

“What I notice is that people are buying bigger trees,” said David B. Radebaugh of Radebaugh’s Christmas Tree Farms in Belchertown and Wilbraham.

“The new houses they’re building are very big. A lot of them have cathedral ceilings. So I’m seeing demands for trees from 10 all the way up to 20 feet,” he said.