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Being a good jewish boy, I so desperately wanted a christmas tree when I was young that I made one out of a broom. It was lovely. Now I'm married to a goy and have a real one.

Djs,
That is one of the cutest things that I've ever heard. That little anecdote needs to make its way into a novel or a film.
:)

Coming from New York in the United States and not moving very far to Massachusetts, I always wonder what Christmas season is like in a warmer climate even in the U.S. I had a theory about Christmas providing an overwhelmingly cultural compulsion to distract from the oncoming winter, such that we would be acclimated by January and a good chunk of the inclement weather behind us, lit up an partied through. I know this isn't really a plausible explanation, given the warmer areas where pine isn't indigenous; people still go goofy in their shorts and flip-flops to the stores to buy gifts and celebrate plenty. Thanks for sharing the southern hemispheric view of Xmas. It's hard to imagine it's coming on summer somewhere and also Christmas.

I grew up mostly on the Big Island of Hawaii, but I moved there when I was 9 years old...old enough to remember "real" Christmas's on the mainland. It is funny that it was really easy to get used to the differences between an island Christmas and a mainland one; like our quickly adopted tradition of a family hike to our favorite remote beach after Christmas dinner, or singing Here Comes Santa in a Red Canoe, and Christmas Luau. But it was really difficult to get used to the things that were the same...Christmas trees shipped from the Northwest, the mall done up in red and green with Santa and the elves in an island of fake snow, fruitcake, etc.

BTW I love the driftwood tree. I have used a starfish to top my small live tree previous years, but it looks much more at home on that one!

I moved from Iowa to South Texas when I was twelve and for the most part, it has never been Christmas since... until the fifty-year snow event we had a few years ago on Christmas day. That was really special.

But we do have an indigenous plant people sometimes use as a Christmas tree. The flower stalk of the maguey (Agave americana) dries woody and can be painted. This image will give you some idea of the possibilities (and the scale!)

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2163/cactusvv0.jpg

As far as I am concerned Christmas doesn't have anything to do with weather or climate. I'm Australian, so every Christmas is a summer Christmas and I couldn't imagine/want it any other way. I'm always intrigued by US/European's curiosity with a christmas without snow, open fires etc.

Having sad that I think most Australians still use pine trees for christmas trees whether they get their own (you'd be suprised how many grow in the country), buy one or buy a fake.