Anyone who's seen the classic National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation knows that chopping down a Christmas tree can be more appealing in theory than in reality. Not only are real trees a pain to chop and transport the tree (as seen from the Christmas tree — with roots — on top of the Griswold family car),

Of all my holiday memories throughout the years, it’s the ones spent baking cookies that are the strongest. I remember making a huge mess with my cousins in my grandmother’s kitchen, blasting Mariah Carey’s Christmas album on loop.