A funny thing begins to happen around town the first weekend after Thanksgiving.

Suddenly, tightly wrapped trees are being strapped to the roofs of family cars with bungy cords and driven home. Soon, these will be set up in the living room, wrapped in lights (once untangled of course), and decked with colored balls, pre-school-era ornaments, tinsel, or just about anything else these days.

Tell us what you decorate your tree with in comments below.

But not every family goes through the motions of picking up their tree at a nearby lot, or heading out to the farm to cut one down. Instead, they simply head up to the attic to dust off the same one they used last year.

To go real, or fake: that's the question.

Personally, I love a real tree. The evergreen smell, the family trip and debate over which one looks best is something that just brings out the season in me. You'd have a hard time convincing me to go fake—except, maybe, for one of those shiny aluminum ones from the 60s. Those are wild!

Christmas Tree Trivia

The Germans are most often credited with starting the modern Christmas tree tradition in the 1600s. According to the History Channel, they didn't take off in America though, until the late 1800s, with the first trees sold commercially in 1850.

Aluminum Christmas trees were the first artificial ones sold in a color other than green. They were originally crafted by a Chicago-based company called Modern Coatings. Aluminum trees were most popular in the 60s, and some credit the Charlie Brown Christmas Special that first aired in 1965 with killing the aluminum tree.

About six species of trees account for about 90 percent of Christmas tree market: Scotch pine, Douglas fir, noble fir, white pine, balsam fir and white spruce.

By Matthew Hendrickson

Share a picture of your Christmas tree from past or present by clicking the Upload Photos and Videos button. Tell us about your family's tree tradition in comments below and vote in our poll about which type you prefer to trim.