by I was walking by a Christmas tree stand and I overheard the sales person tell the woman looking at trees that the tree she was considering was $200!! It was 5 feet high, in a stand! Insane! But this place, maybe ten blocks away, had a sign saying their trees were … now I forget, but I think they said $60 – $85, except that sounds too low for the big ones. Still, walk a few blocks and completely different prices. I’m tempted!
I know there are ‘real tree people’ and those who don’t worry about it, like me. I bought a fake fir, seven feet tall, many years ago, and I still have it in the original box and I put it up most years (not the last couple – since my parents died, I haven’t had the heart, but I am thinking I will this year.) Because it is a good quality ‘fir’, it looks really nice and then I string 500 tiny white lights in and out of the branches and it looks really, really nice. In all the years, I haven’t had the mess or fuss of a real tree, nor the smell either, I agree. But I have enjoyed it nevertheless. But I have always had storage space, which I suspect you may be short on, in a small NYC apartment. I also had a craft show paper angel for the topper, but years ago, my Labrador ate it, so now I have a kind of tacky giant star and am thinking about what to do about that!
I love fake trees too. I had one I adored but I had to give it away because one of my cats at the time, I think it was Buddy, was determined to eat it and I was afraid he’d choke on the fake needles.