2 Natural trees

European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally-grown, unsheared trees (as in the photo, right), while in North America there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations. The shearing also damages the highly attractive symmetry of natural trees. In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. Artificial Christmas trees, made of metal and plastic, are also widely used.

The best species for use are species of Abies, which have the major benefit of not shedding the needles when they dry out, but species in other genera are also used. Commonly used species in Northern Europe (including Britain) are:

• Silver Fir Abies alba (the original species)
• Nordmann Fir Abies nordmanniana (as in the photo)
• Noble Fir Abies procera
• Norway Spruce Picea abies
• Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris

and in North America:

• Balsam Fir Abies balsamea
• Fraser Fir Abies fraseri
• Noble Fir Abies procera
• Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii
• Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris
• Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)

Several other species are used to a lesser extent.

Many cities, towns, and department stores put up public Christmas trees outdoors for everyone to enjoy, such as the Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta and many others.

Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such as garland made from popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and bell-shaped, seed-covered suet cakes.

Some people also buy balled-and- burlapped trees, often from a plant nursery, to be planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades.

3 Artificial trees

Artificial trees are very popular in the U.S., where despite their lack of realism (both in looks and smell), they are considered more convenient and eventually less expensive than real trees. Some people simply store the whole decorated tree covered in a large bag in a closet or basement, ready for the next year.

Artificial trees are sometimes even a necessity in an apartment, due to potential fire danger from a dried-out real tree, leading to their prohibition by some landlords. They may also be necessary for a few people who have an allergy to conifers.

In the U.S., most trees (about 70%) are now artificial. [1]

3.1 Feather trees

The first artificial trees were tabletop feather trees, made from green- dyed feathers wound onto sticks drilled into a larger one, like the branches on a tree. Originating in Germany in the 19th century (to prevent further deforestation), these " minimalist" trees show off small ornaments very well. [2] The first feather trees came to the U.S. in 1913, in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog.

3.2 Modern trees

The first modern artificial Christmas trees were produced by companies which made brushes for everything from bottles to toilets. They were made the same way, using long, thin, wire-like plastic strands (though in a pine-green color), and twisting them between heavy wires that form the branches. The bases of the branches were then twisted together to form a large branch, which was then inserted by the user into a wooden pole for a trunk. Each row of branches is a different size, color coded at the base with paint or stickers for ease of assembly.

Those first trees looked like long-needled pine trees, but later trees use flat PVC sheets to make the needles. Many also have very short brown "needles" would in with the longer green ones, to imitate the branch itself or the bases that each group of pine (but not other conifer) needles grows from. These trees have become a little more realistic every year, with a few deluxe trees containing multiple branch styles. Many trees now come in "slim" versions, to fit in smaller spaces. Most of the better trees have branches hinged to the pole, though the less-expensive ones generally still come separately. Better trees also have more branch tips, the number usually listed on the box.

Around 2003, some trees with molded-plastic branches started selling in the U.S., intended to look more realistic, but at this stage still falling short in most cases. A few less-traditional conifers are also being produced, such as cedar and juniper, often in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio .

3.3 Non-pine trees

The first trees which were not evergreen were the metallic trees of the 1950s and 1960s. They were aluminum-coated paper, meaning that they also posed a great fire hazard if lights were put directly on them. (This warning still appears on UL-listed holiday lights in the U.S.) They were instead lit by a spotlight or floodlight , often with a motorized rotating color wheel in front of it.

Other trees which look nothing like a conifer except for the triangular or conical shape are also widely used as tabletop decorations, such as a stack of ornaments.

3.4 Outdoor trees

Outdoor branched trees made out of heavy white- enameled steel wires have become more popular on U.S. lawns in the 2000s, along with 1990s spiral ones that hang from a central pole, both styles being lighted with standard miniature lights. These lights are usually white, but often are green, red, red/green, blue/white, blue, or multicolor, and sometimes with a small controller to fade colors back and forth.

A few hotels and other buildings will string lights up from the roof to the top of a small tower on top of the building, so that at night it appears as a lit Christmas tree. This has also been seen at several homes, often using green lights. Some skyscrapers will tell certain offices to leave their lights on (and other office off) at night during December, creating a Christmas tree pattern.

3.5 Other gimmicks

Since the late 1990s, many indoor trees now come "pre-lit", with several hundred miniature lights, often the newer type which will stay on even if a bulb is damaged or removed. Some are instead lit partly or completely by fiber optics, with the light in the base, and a rotating color wheel causing various colors to shimmer across the tree.

Past gimmicks include small talking or singing trees, and trees which blow "snow" (actually small foam beads) over themselves, collecting them in a decorative cardboard bin at the bottom and blowing them back up to the top through a tube hidden next to the trunk.

A long-standing and simple gimmick is conifer seedling s sold with cheap decorations attached by soft pipe cleaners. Real potted ones are often sold like this, and artificial ones often come with a burlap "root ball" but only sometimes with decorations.

4 Tree skirts

Since candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a fabric remnant was often placed on the floor below the tree to protect it by catching the dripping wax. Even when dripless candles and then electricity took over, the skirt remained as a decorative feature. [3] A Nativity scene or model train is often placed on the skirt, along with gifts long since grown too large to be the "presents on the tree" of " White Christmas".

5 Alternate meanings

For students, to Christmas tree a test (specifically a computer-graded multiple choice test) is to fill in the answer sheet randomly, or in such a way as to form a design. Reasons for Christmas treeing a test include boredom, rebellion, and desperation (for students who are not prepared for the test). The name comes from one popular pattern, which resembles a Christmas tree.

Drag racing also has what is called a "Christmas tree", so named because of the large number of lights that it has (and the branches which the lights are on). Each side (because drag racing is a contest between two vehicles) of the christmas tree has seven lights: two small yellow lights at the top and then in this order below them: three larger lights, green, and then finally a red light. The christmas tree as a whole is used to count down to the start so that the drivers can accurately judge the start.

6 External links

• British Royal Family Christmas trees
• An iconoclastic look at artificial Christmas trees, at the Gymnosperm Database

Christmas traditions Trees Conifers

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