On Christmas Day, many people will be opening gifts that have been wrapped and left under the Christmas tree. 

Those who choose to get live trees generally have to rely on tree farms that provide the trees to retailers across the country. 

The number one producer of trees used for the holidays is Oregon, and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) was so proud of that fact that his state is the top tree producer that, in December 2011, he pushed through a proclamation calling the first week of December 2011 "National Christmas Tree Week."  In the proclamation, Merkley declared the following:

Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states.

Our partners at PolitiFact were in the holiday spirit and decided to check out this claim.  PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that Merkley's claim rates TRUE on the Truth-O-Meter.  Gillin says that it's a pretty cut-and-dried claim to verify.

"Because it's Christmas time, we didn't want to be Grinches about this, so we were very careful with the wording here," said Gillin.  "The statement says that Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states.  It doesn't necessarily imply that Christmas trees are farmed in every state, because we know that there are a few states where Christmas tree farming would be impractical.  It's too dry in Arizona to commercially grow Christmas trees, and in Alaska, it's too cold to grow a good Christmas tree in any reasonable amout of time.  That being said, it's pretty reasonable to say that, in a nation that largely celebrates Christmas, there are Christmas trees growing in some fashion in every state."

With a desire to avoid being put on the "naughty" list and getting a lump of coal in their collective stockings, the team at PolitiFact gave this claim a rating of TRUE on the Truth-O-Meter.

 

Sources: Christmas trees grown in all 50 states?