Picking a Christmas Tree.

The author offers advice on purchasing a Christmas tree. It can be advantageous to get a tree with a flat side, says David Murbach, who chooses the tree at New York City's Rockefeller Center. Murbach buys his tree for home from a street vendor. He measures the available space before picking it out, including room for a stand and a star on top. He asks the vendor to cut the trunk into a point, to expose more and help it absorb water. Sometimes he may use a handsaw to cut it a second time.