Choosing a Live Christmas Tree
When choosing a live Christmas tree for your holiday season there are a couple of important things to keep in mind. First, you are going to want to figure out where in your house the tree supposed to fit, then take the necessary measurements and bring them along with you to the tree retailer. You will also want to look for freshness, and consider the decorations you will be using and how you will transport your tree home.
Check for Freshness
After you have found a tree suitable for your home, it is important to make sure the tree is fresh. A tree that is not fresh has probably been sitting around on the seller's lot for too long and will quickly shed its needles in your house. In addition to its shedding being a nuisance, a dry tree can be an enormous fire hazard due to the holiday lights that go hand in hand with Christmas trees. There are a few ways to tell how fresh a tree is, the most obvious being simply asking the retailer how long it has been since the trees were delivered. Another method of inspecting the freshness of a Christmas tree is to see how the needles react to being bent. Since the typical Christmas tree is an evergreen, a fresh tree's needles will not snap when bent, however a dry tree's needles will break easily. Other indicators of dryness are brittle branches and general discoloration.
Decoration and Transportation
When selecting a tree, keep in mind the amount of decoration you plan on using. If you have a lot of decorations make sure you choose a tree with plenty of sturdy branches. Similarly, if you do not plan on using a ton of decorations, go for a tree with fewer limbs to avoid it looking barren. Finally, always double check to make sure your tree is firmly secured onto your car before leaving the lot.
