Article: Choosing a Fitting Monarch; Each Christmas a Different Conifer Became King for the Day

There are two kinds of Christmas trees for Elvira Hanna. There is a third as well, in her mind far superior to the others, but she is not quite sure if it is right to call that a proper Christmas tree.

Hanna is a Washingtonian who grew up in Germany-the country of origin for the now-worldwide tradition of celebrating the Christmas season with a decorated conifer-an evergreen tree bearing cones.

Hanna remembers that the popular trees in her childhood were Norway spruce and Austrian pine-the two fine conifers most common in the mountains of Central Europe. These were the Christmas trees that most Germans cut down in the forest or bought at the market. They wanted something solidly green to ...

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