If you are among the zillions of people who like to have a Christmas tree to help in creating a festive atmosphere during the holidays, there are only a few choices, and all of them have their pros and cons.

And like just about everything else these days, just having a Christmas tree can prove to be controversial, if you let it.

You can do the traditional trek into the mountains with a thermos of hot chocolate and an ax, though this is becoming increasingly difficult in regard to permits and available locations, not to mention the soaring cost of gasoline.

You can decorate an existing tree in your yard and stare at it through your picture window or get a live 'tree in a pot' that you roll into the living room from the deck.

Heck, if low impact and sustainability are your watchwords, but you still want something Christmassy, you can just put some tinsel and a star on the TV set.

Finally, you can grab that dusty, plastic representation of a tree you've used for the last 12 years from the garage, basement or attic and throw some bulbs on it, or you can opt for a pre-cut tree from a local lot.

Enter Trevor Jones of the Local Boys Christmas Tree lot.

Trevor is selling Christmas trees in the northwest corner of the Common's Mall parking lot, and business is good.

"Nine to Nine...all the time, seven days a week," he says, and this was evident as I had to dodge his customers the entire time I was asking him questions or shooting photos. "We've got five employees, plus me and on the weekends, my mom comes in to run the cash register."

Trevor and his family have been selling trees around the area for over thirty-two years, and judging by his customer base, they're in it for the long haul.

Frasier Firs, Super Extra Fancy Nobles, Grand Firs and Plantation Douglas Firs, Trevor can special order you a tree if you're willing to pay and wait, and he has a nice selection of pre-flocked trees under the white tent.

"We sell a ton of the blue ones, and the pink ones, they're real pretty when they're decorated." A born salesman.

Trev just started school at the University of Washington - Tacoma, but in watching as he escorts potential buyers through the maze of evergreen explaining the virtues and differences and how he deftly lops off the tree trunks with an enormous chainsaw, it's clear that he knows his business.

I asked him where his trees come from.

"We have farms in Orting and Mt. Vernon."

And once I buy a tree, how should I take care of it?

"Keep it watered and don't let it run out."

Trevor squares up the ends of your tree with his saw just before you load it up, reminding customers to get it into some water right way.

He handed me a packet of stuff called "Tree Life."

"You can use this...it makes the tree last longer and more flame-resistant," he informed.

Before I left, I had to ask his opinion of artificial trees and he wasn't shy.

"You don't get the smell of a real tree and... artificial trees are made overseas, where they melt plastics together and add color...there's lead in a lot of them."

Turns out Trevor is right.

Faux Fir

The problem with the great bulk of artificial trees that come into this country from China and elsewhere is that they are made primarily of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) which, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, can be a potential source of hazardous lead.

There is even a warning label required on artifical trees called California Proposition 65, which warns of the lead content.

A quick trip through the NCTA's website reveals plenty more verbiage about the vagaries of plastic trees, including the neat fact that they were invented by a company that makes toilet bowl brushes. There's an image for you.

A woman interrupted us to buy a large wreath ($12.95 and up) and I waited while Trevor made the sale.

What's the typical cost of a fresh tree, Trev?

"$29.95 up to $199.00 for a commercial tree...and Cedar garlands are going for a buck a foot."

Because we live in the Pacific Northwest, which was built on the very roots of the honorable evergreen tree, it would seem like a birthright to have a needles and pitch, aroma-laced Christmas tree to grace your living room.

And though much of the modern American Christmas holiday is about merchandising and the plethora of plastic aspects that go along with it, if you opt for a freshly cut tree, it's nice to have something real to hang a candy cane on.