All the talents dealmakers
hone throughout the year — methodical due-diligence skills,
shrewd negotiating tactics, wiley gamesmanship — face
a brutal test each December when they structure their most
complicated transaction: finding the right family Christmas
tree. (If, of course, they are wont to find a tree at all.
For other holiday decorating challenges, see a related story.)
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The right size, shape and variety of tree are just a few
factors to consider before acquiring and installing the
perfect conifer, which will be long embedded in family photo
albums, children's memory banks and the envious hearts of
colleagues and friends. Perfection, of course, is a relative
term. And beyond the tree itself, there's the eternal challenge
of selecting tasteful ornaments, the age-old debate between
tinsel and garland and, more recently, considerations like
"green" trees. And all these needling decisions
must be made under tight deadlines during the most frantic
time of the year.
One solution, besides
buying an artificial tree or ordering a tree for delivery
in a FedEx box: Contact a tree professional. A handful of
Christmas specialists scattered throughout the U.S. are
available to help you find the perfect evergreen, then install
it in your living room. For a fee — sometimes hefty
— some will decorate it, water it throughout the holidays,
then come and dispose of it afterward.
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