Bill Wade, Post-Gazette
	Tina Schron, right, of Shadyside reacts with a "That's it!" look and tells Sandy Morgan the search is over for her Christmas tree. Ms. Schron spent about 25 minutes looking for a skinny tree --- better to show off the ornaments she says. She found her tree at R. Morgan's at East Carson Street and Becks Run Road, where Bob and his wife Sandy sell about 2,000 trees a season.

By Bob Batz Jr.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

		Brushing up on history A chop at artificial trees from the National Christmas Tree Association: "Actually fake trees were invented by a company who [sic] made toilet bowl brushes, the Addis Brush Co. Regardless of how far the technology has come, it's still interesting to know the first fake Christmas trees were really just big green toilet bowl brushes."

Unless you're one of the Pittsburghers who leave theirs up year-round, 'tis the season for putting up your Christmas tree. If you haven't already taken a firm stand, you first must decide between real or artificial. But this being America, that's just the start of your choices. In the holiday's true spirit, don't worry too much. As Charles N. Barnard once wrote, "All Christmas trees are perfect!"

What's hot in artificial trees? Black trees and bubble trees, says Bill Quinn, proprietor of www.christmastreeforme.com, which sells a mind-boggling variety. The black ones -- the needles are flat, not shiny black -- are sold out, he says. "I could sell 40 of them by the end of the day if I could find them." They were all the elegant rage in Europe last year, in the media there as much as upside-down trees were here.

	Did you know? Pennsylvania is the fourth largest supplier of live Christmas trees in the United States. Overall, up to 35 million real Christmas trees are sold in this country annually. The top-selling Christmas trees are: balsam fir, Douglas fir, Fraser fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine and white pine. Fake fact: Eighty-five percent of artificial trees sold in the United States are manufactured in China.

Speaking of which, the popularity of upside-down trees "pretty much floored everybody" in the business last year, Mr. Quinn says, and there are many more types available this year. (The advantage? The ornaments are more visible and there's more room underneath for presents.)

But what's really making a splash this year is the bubble tree, the branches of which spiral around a hollow clear plastic tube. This is an artificial tree to which you add water -- about a gallon and a half for a 6 1/2-foot tree. When you plug in the tree and turn it on, LED lights at the bubbly base cycle through clear, red, blue and green light, or you can lock it on one color. There are mini lights on the foliage. The 6 1/2-foot model costs $275.

Also increasing in popularity are "realistic trees," the branches of which are molded from the real thing and cast in polyethylene.

Other choices include retro "tinsel trees" in various colors and space-saving wall trees, which are flat on one side to hang on or stand against a wall.

		Related story Trimming the real deal

Some of these trees won't be easy to find in this region, but there's still tons of choices. Janie Long, buyer for Pool City's seven local locations, probably buys more artificial Christmas trees than anyone else here. Although they're not selling black Christmas trees, black-and-gold decorating motifs are perennially popular. "Anything that looks like a blue spruce is very Western Pennsylvania," she says, explaining that even people who like artificial trees like them to look like the ones that grow naturally around them.

Watering cane

Handy gadget: The Handycane, a candy-cane-shaped hook and tube that makes watering the Christmas tree much easier. No more crawling on your hands and knees to fill the water stand. Fill the hook with water, place the end of the cane in the dish and let the water drain. Serves as a decoration, too. $14.95 at www.handycane.com.

Trees for troops

As part of "Trees for Troops," FedEx on Monday is shipping 50 trees from various farms in this region from Fleming's Christmas Tree Farm in Indiana County, the "Christmas Tree Capital of the World." The trees are part of 11,000 from around the country going to U.S. military bases around the world.

Pennsylvania fir at the White House

The White House Christmas tree this year comes from Pennsylvania -- from the Crystal Spring Tree Farm, owned by Francis and Margaret Botek of Lehighton, Carbon County. The couple won the National Christmas Tree Association contest this summer with a Douglas fir, which is the type chosen for the White House since President Lyndon Johnson initiated the program in 1964. President George Bush and his wife, Laura, are enjoying a 21-footer in the White House's Blue Room.