It was already dead. My wife bought it to plant in our yard then decided not to plant it. It was a couple of days before Christmas and my Daughter said, “it looks like we’re not going to have a tree this year.” I was joking with her and told her we should decorate the dead tree so we can get some use out of it. The next thing I saw was my daughter dragging it in the house. My wife and other daughter wasn’t to thrilled over it but we had fun.