It has to touch the ceiling. Always. Every year. That's our criteria for a Christmas tree. Our living room ceiling is 8 ft. high, so that is a feasible reach, but our son's tops out at 15 ft., presenting a little more of a challenge—especially since his living room/kitchen area makes up a large part of the second floor of his house. During the ten years we lived on a sailboat, we were occasionally able to put a tree outside on the deck, and then, literally, the sky was the limit.