Is it just me or does $50 seem like a lot to spend on something that is going to be dead on the side of the road in a month?

The price of Christmas trees is spiraling out of control, people. I can remember spending $30 on a tree about 10 years ago and thinking that was outrageous. This year I went to the place right down the street from where I work and their tabletop trees were $30. Their Charlie Brown trees were $36 and up; their sort of normal trees started around $50. I ended up getting a $55 tree this year, but because I dragged my feet and waited 'till yesterday to buy it, I got it for $30. It's a kind of average, cuteness-wise, not very tall, nice and full with no huge bare spots, and all the needles didn't fall off when I brought it into the house. So that's good. But no way it's worth more than 30 bucks.

It's enough to drive a person -- even a person who swore she would never in her life buy a fake tree -- to break down and buy a fake tree.