Several years ago, my husband and my children were traveling on Route 40, in Maryland, when a Christmas tree fell from a truck that was loaded with them. My husband swerved to miss it, then got out and loaded it in our station wagon, and brought it home. It was a bit misshapen, but we didn't care. That was free tree number 1.

The following year, believe it or not, the same thing happened, only in a different place--free tree number 2. This one was missing nearly a whole side, but we put the bare side in the corner. Our kids were beginning to think that someone was sending the trees to us.

All this was fine--exceptional, in fact--but I had to protest when I was still vacuuming up pine needles in July. We had carpet in our whole house, and those needles, when dry, stuck so well that they were almost impossible to get out. Not only that, but I had a three-story house to clean, and even the carpet on the stairs had pine needles in it.

At my urging, my husband gave in and we shopped for an artificial tree. We got a very nice one at Sears, which lasted for about 12 years before we had to buy another one. We store it in the attic, and it is no trouble at all to bring it down and decorate it.

Best of all, I no longer have to vacuum up pine needles in the summer time.

If I am nostalgic for the scent of a real tree, I buy pine scent and spray the artificial one. The tree always looks full and perfect, even after all these years, because it is easy to fill it out by moving the wired branches around. We put it in front of our big window in the living room, and it can be seen from all the way down the hill where we live.

I don't worry about a dried out tree catching fire or dropping needles, and there is nothing to dispose of when Christmas is over.

I'm sticking (no pun intended) with an artificial tree because I think it is more economical than a real tree, which can run up to $100.00 in some places. We paid about $250.00 for our artificial tree, but we have used it for about 10 years. That's quite a difference.

I guess it comes down to personal preference. Isn't it nice that we have a choice?

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