we had a real one the first year DH and I did christmas together and it was a horrible tree, apparently 'normal' trees in qld are hard to come by and this thing we had was basically three trees of different sizes tied together to try and fill the big gaps between the brances, so the next year we bought a fakie, its lovely and big and fluffy and doesnt make a mess, never thought id have a fake one casue the real trees in the uk are so awesome and the smell that fills the house is one of my fav things about chrissy!