Of course, there are cheaper alternatives to chopping down your own tree. Prices as low as $20 can be spotted at tree lots taking up swaths of blacktop along major roads in the area. But connoisseurs of the whole grab-a-saw-and-head-out-into-the-woods-t o-find-just-the-right-tree-to-gather-around-on-Christmas-morning experience wouldn't trade it - regardless of cost.
It was just how Laura Mooney's family got their tree when she was growing up. Now 22 and engaged, the Bowleys Quarters woman said she wanted to carry on that ritual. "I thought it would be a good tradition for us to start," she said. It was still more than she expected to spend. A friend had spent $30 on hers at a lot, and Mooney figured she could handle that. The $70 price tag on her 7-foot white pine was so high that she had to send her fiance, Patrick Hedderick, up to a nearby automated teller machine so they would have enough cash for Winter, who doesn't take credit cards.
"I splurged," Mooney said, "but I'd do it again."
Cutting down a Christmas tree is not a solitary affair. It's all about the experience. Most people bring their families, and sometimes everyone gets a vote. Sometimes there's bickering or whining; sometimes there's lengthy deliberations over which one is the one. Often, peals of laughter can be heard.
Stephanie and Brad Provenza of Joppatowne brought their sons - Tony, 10, and Joey, 8 - who raced in and out of the trees as they tried to pick the right one on which to test out their saw. "We're not going to walk out of here with any $85 tree," Brad Provenza said as the hunt began. He and his wife steered the boys toward a white pine, after deciding a blue spruce or a Douglas fir was out of their price range.
They debated one tree against another (one was too skinny and maybe too short, Mom and Dad decided; their parents' choice wasn't full enough, either, the boys said) until they chose one that seemed to have enough heft and height. Tony lay on the ground and worked the saw as the rest of the family cheered him on. The tab for this little outing: $70.
Farms nearby have been closing, and options for buying fresh trees are becoming more limited. But the Litzes, who have been coming to Frostee Tree Farm with their 15-year-old daughter, Shelby, since she was a baby, plan on returning to this farm as long as it's around, until the economy turns around again and the nearby million-dollar homes swallow up this land, too.
The goal each year, Charmaygne Litz said, is always to carry the chosen tree back up the farm's steep hill and to the parking lot without having to call Stiffler to drive it up for them on his tractor.
It has become part of the Christmas tradition itself.
TREE TRENDS
Type of tree purchased in 2007
Real 31.3 million
Artificial 17.4 million
Type of real tree purchased in 2007
Pre-cut 84 percent
Cut-your-own 16 percent
Location of real-tree purchase in 2007
Choose-and-harvest farm 21 percent
Nursery/garden center 20 percent
Chain store 23 percent
Retail lot 12 percent
Nonprofit group 9 percent
Other 15 percent
Source: National Christmas Tree Association
