For some reason, many French people prefer chemically sprayed Christmas trees to real ones. I don't know why this is, and can only think that it is some lapse in their usually keen judgment, along with drinking UHT milk instead of fresh and subjecting job candidates to handwriting analysis.
I was excited this year at my usual flower stand at the marché. Not a single chemical tree in sight! But just as I was standing there thinking that the French were finally losing this strange taste, a woman in a fur coat walked up to the stand owner and said, "Where are your white trees? I can't find them."
"They all sold out already," said the stand owner. "But I'll have more next week."