I grew up in a family of tree snobs. We always had two Christmas trees. One, the living-room tree, was where we hung the fancy-store bought ornaments. The other tree, in the family room, was festooned with the homemade ornaments -- the Santas with cotton-ball beards, the popsicle-stick stars and the lumpy sawdust angels.

The tree varieties varied from year to year -- sometimes balsam fir, sometimes blue spruce, sometimes Norfolk pine. But both trees were ALWAYS natural evergreens. We felt sorry for -- and, truth be told, a bit superior to -- folks who put up artificial trees.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas, we told ourselves and each other, without the ritual of scouring the chilly lot for the perfect tree, sawing off the end of the trunk, waiting for the frozen branches to drop so we could hang the decorations, then savoring that evergreen scent.

The wrestling with the tree stand, and the sweeping up of needles -- those were things we put up with as part of the package.

But over the years, artificial trees have gotten better, and we've gotten older. One by one, everyone in my extended family has made the switch from real to fake trees. I'm the lone holdout. And I'm not sure why.

Artificial trees are definitely more convenient. They look prettier, with their uniform, pre-lit branches. And in the long run, they're probably less expensive than buying a fresh-cut tree year after year.

MCT - MCT, Star Tribune

As for which option is greener, that's a subject of debate, although one environmental consulting firm gave a slight edge to natural trees. (After calculating for greenhouse gas emissions, use of resources and human health impact, the firm concluded that the artificial tree would have to be reused for more than 20 years to be greener than buying a fresh-cut tree year after year.)

Either way, the momentum is clearly with artificial trees. Sales have increased along with their advances in quality and convenience. There are approximately 50 million artificial trees in American living rooms, compared to about 30 million real trees, according to industry figures.

Where do you stand on real vs. fake Christmas trees?