Always real; fir or spruce, never pine. Pine needles are too long to hold ornaments properly.

[Ocelot II]

And there would have been a major mutiny if anyone had so much as suggested an artificial tree. It was a big production. My dad hated unbalanced trees so he'd cut off branches that were in the "wrong" place, drill a hole in the trunk and splice them into another place that made the tree more symmetrical. Then we'd haul out the boxes of ornaments and make another big deal about decorating it properly. For awhile we had that old-fashioned tinsel that was made of lead so it draped nicely, until it was banned because it was made of lead. We also had some of those lights that looked like candles and bubbled when they warmed up. When I was a little kid I thought the Christmas tree was the coolest thing in the world.