How to Find the Perfect Christmas Tree

{Last year's beauty.}

We are getting our tree this weekend and I am so excited. Perhaps you've picked up on my enthusiasm for the holiday season, but picking the tree is among my favorite rituals. I love everything about it - getting bundled, walking along the Museum block, perusing the pines, picking a big one, watching the hunky Canadian chop the trunk, watching my hunky husband carry it home on his shoulder. And I love putting it up in our yellow living room by the window. I love the smell it casts. I love the little white lights and the ornaments we hang. I love all of it. And I love this anticipation, too.

How to find the perfect Christmas tree? Like most things in life, it comes down to instinct. Oh, and to the staunch opinions of three tiny creatures.

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Will you be getting a tree this year? In your estimation, how do you find the perfect Christmas tree? Is the ideal tree big or small, real or fake, wonderful-smelling or long-lasting?