This Christmas tree wears more than the usual holiday decor.

Some 150 pairs of winter gloves dangle from this 18-foot high tree located in Old Main. They hang like normal ornaments, and in a few weeks these gloves will be donated to the area’s needy and homeless.

“Everyone says decorating this tree looks like it’s so much fun,” said Jana Johnson, a worker in the president’s office, “It is, but it’s so much work.”

Johnson, along with Tami Babbs, an accounting office employee, thought of the tree’s theme, “Giving from the Heart.”

The idea for the nontraditional ornaments came from a book Johnson once read where a young girl gives a pair of red gloves to a homeless man. The tree, a project of Johnson’s for three weeks, is the centerpiece holiday decoration in the foyer of Old Main.

Yet for all the symbols of Christmas found in that foyer, one tradition isn’t present: the massive tree is artificial. As it stands, only the pairs of gloves – and not pine needles – will fall from this tree that took carpenters two hours to assemble.

Actually, only two Christmas trees on campus this holiday are natural, a number that in previous years was more than 40. The decline here only echoes a nationwide trend where more and more people are trading the forestry smell of evergreens for the convenience and cleanliness of artificial ones.

Last holiday season, seven out of 10 Christmas trees in the United States were artificial, according to the National Christmas Tree Association annual survey. By comparison, in 1990 the ratio was about 50 percent.

Although the rate of incidence is low, underscoring the population’s switch to artificial trees is the threat real ones may ignite a fire. Safety is the No. 1 reason every public state residential university has exiled real trees – all of them except Eastern.

Trees possible igniters for fire

In 1999, an estimated 370 house fires were ignited by Christmas Trees, resulting in five deaths and more than $15 million in property damage, according to National Fire Protection Agency figures. The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates residential fires during the holiday season increase by five a day.

No fires were reported last holiday season in Charleston, Fire Chief Darrell Nees said Friday.

Christmas trees become fire hazards when the needles and tree trunk dry out from a lack of water or overexposure to the sun. Overloaded electrical outlets are the No. 1 cause of Christmas tree fires, protection agency numbers reveal.

Most state public universities don’t want to risk the possibility of fire and have far more restrictive rules than Eastern, allowing only artificial trees campus wide. Illinois State University takes it a step farther and doesn’t allow Christmas lights on the ceiling or the windows.

“I’m not aware of any issues we’ve ever had with (the real) Christmas trees,” Mark Hudson, director of housing and dining, said. “My suspicion is that if we ever did, we’d no longer have them.”

Gary Hanebrink, a safety officer with Facilities Planning and Management, confirmed a Christmas tree had never been involved in a fire on-campus.

University housing policies state real trees are banned from dorm rooms, but the residence hall’s main lobbies and academic buildings could have them if they are fire proofed.

The assumption that Christmas trees commonly ignite or trigger fires is a myth, says one member from the St. Louis-based National Christmas Tree Association.

“The simple fact is that less than one, one-thousandth of all Christmas trees used are ever involved in fires,” said Rick Dungey, a worker at the tree association, which has more than 5,100 professional members. “If you take care of the tree like you’re supposed to, it’s practically impossible to get a high-watered tree to sustain a flame.”

Assuming all 370 Christmas tree fires reported last year were from real trees – no such variation of real or fake is on the police report check box – only .000016 of one percent of the 22.3 million real Christmas trees bought in America last year ignited fires.

And yet, that small possibility of danger influenced the university’s decision three years ago when the tree in Old Main switched to artificial. Johnson said maintaining the glove-engulfed tree, if it were real, would be near impossible.

“We couldn’t keep it watered properly,” she said. “We would need something specialized to give it enough water. Then we’d have to deal with a fire hazard, and that’s a big issue with Old Main. The main thing is safety, and to get that with a perfect large tree is hard to do.”

Smells like Christmas

People smell this Christmas tree before they see it.

That is how the thick aroma from this wintry evergreen first greets passersby on the second floor of Blair Hall. Located in the Continuing Education office only feet away from the door, the tree is one of two authentic Christmas trees on campus as of Thursday.

“It’s the smell,” said Cathy Brachear, a microcomputer specialist for the department. “It smells like Christmas.”

Tradition, aroma, shape, color, texture and the ability to be recycled are the main reasons consumers buy real trees, said Dungey, a representative with the National Christmas Tree Association.

The department’s decision to have the real tree was conscientious, as one worker put it, “we like the real thing.” Already, William Hine, the dean of continuing education, said the department has received numerous compliments. When one worker from another office entered the room, she observed while staring at the tree, “It’s beginning to look a little more festive!”

While 22.3 million real Christmas trees were estimated to be in American households last year, the number pales in comparison to the 57.2 million artificial. Those numbers were 35.4 and 36.3 million respectively in 1990.

The tree in the Continuing Education department first had to be sprayed by Facilities Planning and Management, the only prerequisite to owning a real tree here. Jon Collins, superintendent of the grounds department, estimated less than 10 trees were fire proofed last year. The flame retardant is composed of a phosphate combination sprayed on the trees, which are lifted off the ground from a pulley.

If a tree is dropped off in the morning, the process is usually completed by the afternoon, Collins said.

The phosphate combination makes the needles, branches and trunk incombustible by making them difficult to melt or vaporize, Richard Keiter, an Eastern chemistry professor said. An object can’t burn unless oxygen can get to it.

“The spray serves as a protective coating,” Keiter said.

While Johnson understands the “Christmas smell” is lost with her tree, she said fresh greenery is brought in to provide some aroma.

Christmas spirit there, real tree or not

The artificial tree’s gloves will soon warm 150 pairs of cold hands, thanks to a novel.

The idea to collect donated gloves came from Christian author Karen Kingsbury’s novel, “Gideon’s Gift.” In that story, a man whose life had collapsed after his wife and children died in a car accident re-finds the Christian lifestyle when a young girl gives him a pair of red gloves. The story made Johnson both “cry and laugh,” but an idea was sparked.

“I knew I had wanted to do something, but it was finding who to give it to,” Johnson said.

That “who” ended up being HOPE of East Central Illinois, an organization helping those who are homeless and domestically abused.

The charity doesn’t stop with the gloves.

Hand-drawn paper ornaments created by Charleston grade school and junior high students hanging from four smaller trees and along the walls of the foyer will also be donated to the community. Johnson estimates there are more than 2,000 ornaments.

The two real trees will most likely be donated to a needy family, Hudson said.

“This year there wasn’t any stress,” said Johnson, who decorated the tree for the fourth year. “Usually there’s so much stress, naturally, when you’re doing this, but it all came together.”