OK, we all know the pros and cons for buying a real tree for the holidays.  Pros:  smells great, reminds you of your childhood, casts beautiful shadows on the walls from all the colorful lights.  Cons:  It’s stressful to pick out the perfect tree and cart it home, pine needles get everywhere, you worry about unplugging the lights before bed and watering it sufficiently, and of course, there’s the discarding process after New Year’s Day.  And for all of us apartment renting, small habitat dwelling, I-might-be-out-of-the-town-most-of-the-holiday-anyway tree lovers, our biggest obstacle is space—the lack thereof.

Here are some modern solutions I think can also give you that Christmas feeling:

1. The Cardboard Christmas Tree is a really cool idea.  It uses recycled corrugated cardboard as both the tree and its packaging. Imagine getting a box in the mail that becomes your tree. HOT!  The tree was designed for the environmentally conscious.  A portion of all proceeds benefits the Arbor Day Foundation’s Trees For America program.

2. Kill two birds with one stone with the Potted Christmas Rosemary Tree from ProFlowers.  You’ll get a small tabletop tree and a garden of fresh rosemary at the same time.  I think it makes a great gift, brings life into your home and smells amazing. You’ll have rosemary potatoes for months to come.

3. Talk about sleek.  If you are a K.I.S.S. kind of person (Keep It Simple Stupid) then you will appreciate the simplicity of the Estilo Stainless Steel Tree Tealight Holder.  It’s a modern holiday in its purist form. I really like this one.

4. “Twenty-five years ago, architect Richard Babcock had an idea:  Rather than buying, hauling and disposing of a Christmas tree every year, why not create a tree his family could use year after year?”  This is the tabletop version called the PossibiliTree.  It’s such a great design I’d leave it on display year around – great design.

5.  It never crossed my mind to hang a poster to represent your Christmas tree, but if you are really tight with space this could be your saving grace.  The Maison Tree from Atypyk might be the easiest Christmas tree solution ever.  Talk about no mess and easy clean up.

Remember, just because I feature products you can buy doesn’t mean you should be scared to put your inner designer to the test.  Create your own way to celebrate the holidays.  Maybe you can gather branches and hot glue them together to make your own tree.  Or use a phone book and fold back the pages to create a masterpiece.

In the end we all still love a good old-fashioned tree, big or small.  So find a tree that makes you smile and you can’t go wrong.  Let us know how your tree’s gonna look this year.  I’m very curious…

Here’s a little something to get you in the holiday spirit.  You have to watch the whole video.  Who has the time?  Let the Holidays begin!

Until next time I Dare You To Be Domestic.