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A real tree should look the same on January 1 as it did the day you brought it home. When it doesn’t, the cause is almost always the same: it stopped drinking.
Pick a fresh one
Run a branch through your closed hand, gently. A few needles coming off is normal; a shower of them means the tree was cut too long ago. The needles should bend, not snap, and the tree should feel heavy for its size.
Fir trees, especially Fraser and Noble fir, hold their needles longest. Spruce looks great but drops needles sooner indoors.
Cut the base before it goes in the stand
A cut trunk seals itself with sap within a few hours. Once that happens, it can’t take up water, no matter how full the stand is.
So when you get it home, saw a fresh slice about half an inch thick straight across the bottom of the trunk. Don’t cut a V or drill holes; they don’t help. Then get it into water within a couple of hours.
Give it a big stand, and keep it full
A tree can drink about a quart of water a day for every inch of trunk diameter, and most of that in the first week. A 4-inch trunk can go through a gallon a day.
That’s why the stand matters. Small stands run dry overnight, the base seals, and the tree slowly dries out from there. Use a stand that holds at least a gallon, and check it every morning for the first week. Never let the water drop below the base of the trunk.
Plain tap water is all it needs. Sugar, aspirin and commercial additives don’t make a measurable difference.
Keep it cool
Keep the tree away from heat vents, the fireplace, radiators and sunny windows. Heat dries it faster than anything else. Turning the thermostat down a degree or two helps the tree and the heating bill.
Use LED lights. They run cool, and they’re safer around dry needles.
Safety
A dry tree burns fast. If the needles are falling in handfuls or the branches snap instead of bending, it’s time to take it down, even if it’s before New Year’s.