The trees can cost well over $1,000 but come bursting with tons of branches, making for a very full and quite lifelike tree. Cheaper artificial trees use bristle-like branches and fewer of them.

They also wire the ornaments to the branches. It's one less job for the customer to do. And now it's time to put up the tree. It has taken just one day for this artificial tree to come together ...

For an artificial tree to be environmentally comparable to ... Early northern cultures like Vikings used evergreen branches to ward off spirits during winter. Yet, Christmas trees have become ...