Mike McGrath, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – It’s the time of year when many folks decide to get a really live tree for Christmas, one with its roots all wrapped up in burlap that they’ll plant outdoors after the holidays.

If that’s your plan:

• Dig the planting hole on the next nice day — so you don’t look like a Warner Brothers cartoon character when you otherwise put shovel to frozen soil (boing!).
• Make it a wide hole, but not a deep one. You should see the top of the root flare above the soil line. If the tree looks like a lollipop, it’s planted too low.
• Remove all the burlap and other wrappings before planting. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are wrong, wrong, wrong. And wrong. And