A not-so traditional Christmas tree

This weekend, despite my persistent and patient pleas for an alternative, our family will go out and cut down a live evergreen for our living room. Every year for the 32 Christmases we've spent together as a married couple, I've asked my wife to consider an artificial tree. Every year she tells me if I want a petroleum-based tree made of PVC or aluminum, I'll need a different spouse.

You see, I think plain logic is on my side. First, there is the price. An excellent artificial costs the equivalent of six live trees. In six Christmases, therefore, you are financially in the clear. After that, you simply drag the conical shaped reproduction out of the attic and it won't cost a cent more. I'm a big believer in these two words: paid for. Second, you can buy a fake tree with lights already attached. Wonderful. Third, no needle pickup. No finding needles under the couch in March! Fourth, cats don't eat artificial needles and so, will not spit them up. Fifth, ease of disposal. A fake tree goes in the attic; a real tree goes to the landfill. Sixth, Dad doesn't have to crawl under a Scotch pine in freezing weather at a tree farm and hack away with a blade he hasn't used since last Christmas!

Alas, my reasoning efforts fall on deaf ears. A live tree it has always been for us and shall forever be. Since I've lost the argument, let me try to see it from the other side.

The National Christmas Tree Association, a trade group representing growers, estimates that 85 percent of artificial trees are made in China by workers making less than $100 per month. By contrast, a live tree is a distinctly American product -- a one-billion dollar industry in the U.S. Oregon has the most Christmas tree farms; my home state of Pennsylvania is second. (In the interests of full disclosure, my first gainful employment as a teenager was at the Hozak Christmas Tree Farm in Clinton, Pa. Still the hardest physical work I've done in my life.)

My wife doesn't look at the cost or the convenience. Her interest is in building a memory and honoring a long-established U.S. tradition. Before 1930, there were no artificial trees. (A toilet brush company produced the first evergreen imitations.) Apparently more and more young people agree with Mrs. Long. According to the NCTA, people under 30 prefer to buy the real thing -- valuing the fact that a live tree can be recycled and is a renewable resource.

As a Christian, I'm not sure why a tree is needed at all. Just put up a crèche and lay your presents in front of the nativity scene. The image of wise men bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ child seems an appropriate place to bring transitory yearly gifts.

As I say, my wife wins this debate and she musters a good argument. OK, honey, where did I put that hand saw?

Dr. Jeff Long is executive director of the Chateau Girardeau Foundation, is the president of the Cape Girardeau Public Library board of trustees and is a part-time instructor in religious studies at SEMO.