Always wouldn't have anything but a real tree with multi-colored lights, but eventually got tired of the shopping for the tree, the cost of the tree, and the hassle of a live tree. We are on our 3rd Christmas with an artificial tree. It's a really nice one, looks very real and still has multi-colored lights. It's 8' tall but breaks into 3 pieces and collapses (sorta) with the lights on it.
Even though it wasn't cheap, we've passed the break even point. I'll never go back. I missed the tree smell, but my wife bought some live tree smell in a can this year. Looks great, smells great, much less trouble. I guess as I get older, there's lots of things I don't want to waste time on. In less time than I could drive to a tree lot, our tree was up, lit, and getting decorated.
