Christmas tree! Real or artificial?

Growing up, my family always had a tradition of going to get breakfast at a little cafe, going to a well known tree farm, cutting down a tree, picking up apple cider and donuts, pies, the whole bit. It’s beautiful hill country and just such a fun tradition.

I LOVE real trees, the smell, the nostalgia, the tradition-all of it. BUT I know they are expensive. I would want a 6-7ft tree and my understanding is that would be 50-100 I believe plus I’d have to buy all new lights because my parents aren’t letting me pick up our decorations(we’re not on good terms because they can’t handle the concept of healthy boundaries and I’ve realized a lot about how toxic they are).

However target has a 6ft pre lit artificial tree for 36 right now and honestly I think I may need to re consider how much I value that real tree haha if nothing else at least for this year or a couple years then maybe it could be the kids tree (my boys are 4&1)

I’m a single mom on an extremely tight budget so if I face the reality I really shouldn’t even be getting a tree, but bills are paid and have savings growing so I don’t feel horrrrible about it. We could still go to the farm, enjoy the festivities, just not get a real tree. But for some reason it feels like something would be missing, but it’s just a THING so maybe we do the festivities then set up the artificial tree and diffuse some pine essential oil so it feels like the real deal?. I’m not sure. What are your all’s thoughts?