by Lis Garrett

Created on: January 08, 2009   Last Updated: January 01, 2010

Up until the year I was married, I had never once considered decorating a live Christmas tree. Having grown up in the south, the thought of choosing a pre-cut and half-dead tree from a gas station parking lot seemed both unappealing and devoid of holiday magic. Additionally, given that my mother was a decorating fanatic and everything Christmas-related had to be just so, the notion of finding the perfect live tree was simply ridiculous. She preferred hers perfectly proportioned and out of a box.

Early in my marriage, I once suggested to my husband that we buy an artificial tree. The idea soon spread northward to my newly extended family, where it became the scandal of the century. After all, live Christmas trees harvested from actual tree farms is simply a way of life in the North Country. I learned quickly never to mention the unmentionable again.

Each year, on the first Saturday of December, we bundle up in our warmest clothes and head for the hills just north of the city. The tree farm from where we cut our tree is home to 35 acres of prickly Spruce varieties and feathery-soft Firs. To say this holiday excursion is one of the highlights of our year would be a gross understatement. My kids live for this day, which, for us, symbolizes the official start of the Christmas season.

Despite the weather, which has ranged from sunny skies and not an inch of snow on the ground, to below-zero wind chills and knee-deep drifts, we always have an excellent time hunting for our tree. Our choices are hardly perfect, but that's okay. We still laugh about the time we mistakenly chose a tree that was much too large for our small space. Instead of removing excess tree from the bottom, my husband cut from the top, leaving us with a tree in the shape of a trapezoid. Needless to say, we didn't have company over that Christmas!

The tree farm not only sends out a coupon each year providing a discount to its customers, they shake and bale the tree and give the kids free coloring books and candy canes, too. We even occasionally see Santa taking a much-needed break from making and checking his list. Should you require a hot cocoa to warm your hands and belly on those blustery December days, there's a food hut to provide sweet and savory treats. In addition to trees, the farm offers a wide variety of holiday wreaths, kissing balls, and other green accessories in their barn. You can't get all that out of a box from a store.

Some argue that cutting down a live tree is bad for the environment. Done responsibly, however, supporting the Christmas tree industry can actually be a very good thing.

The Coalition of Environmentally Conscious Growers offers these reasons why you should choose a live Christmas tree each holiday season:

Artificial trees are made from petroleum products and contain PVC. Live trees are all-natural.

Artificial trees contribute to landfill waste and take hundreds of years to decompose. Live trees decompose naturally and can be used as mulch.

Artificial trees emit toxic chemicals. Live trees remove pollutants from the air and produce clean oxygen for people to breathe.

Artificial trees promote waste. Live trees are grown on farms. For every tree that is cut, one or two are planted in its place.

The coalition is a non-profit organization that raises public awareness of live-cut trees. It also certifies tree farms that adhere to "green" growing practices to promote erosion control and soil conservation, pest management, and tributary protection.

So if you want to have a "green" Christmas, why would you choose anything but a live tree?

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