With Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to put up your tree, decorate your home, and get in the holiday spirit. To celebrate this year, you may want to forget about that artificial tree in the garage and purchase a live Christmas tree that fills your home with fresh holiday scents of a winter wonderland.
When buying a live Christmas tree, you can choose a pre-cut tree from a local merchant or cut down your own tree at a choose-and-cut farm. Each option has pros and cons depending on your holiday time restrictions, holiday budget, and preferred holiday experience.
Pre-cut Christmas trees are grown on large farms that harvest trees, cut them down, and ship them to various retailers, garden centers, and freestanding tree lots. When buying a pre-cut tree, always check for freshness because trees are harvested and cut at different times during the holiday season. To check freshness, pull on the end of a branch gently with your hand. If the tree drops needles, it’s best to keep looking. Fresh Christmas trees hold onto their needles.
Choose-and-cut trees are usually grown on smaller tree farms where you can wander through fields of trees, choose a tree, then cut it down yourself with saws provided by the farm. It requires more physical labor, but it’s a unique holiday experience for the family. Choose-and-cut farms often provide family-themed holiday entertainment like bonfires, petting zoos, hay wagon rides, hot chocolate or hot cider stands, and gift shops with tree ornaments, garland, tree toppers, tree skirts, and tree stands.
If this is your first live Christmas tree, it’s important to follow some safety guidelines to avoid a fire. Unlike artificial trees which are often fire-resistant, live trees can quickly catch on fire if placed near direct heat sources like fireplaces, furnace vents, and electrical cords and outlets. Placing your tree near a fireplace or furnace vent will cause the tree to dry out a lot faster. Look for a spot in an open area or near a window and measure the circumference and height of the tree to make sure it fits before you set it up.
One of the most stressful tasks of putting up a live Christmas tree is securing the tree in the tree stand. If you use a traditional tree stand with screws, you need two people to hold the tree’s weight and get it safely into the stand. One person should position the tree while the other person tightens the screws. If you purchase a tree from a tree farm, tree lot, or retailer, many have specially-designed drills that match the pin in the stand, so trees will stand upright and straight.
Taking down a live Christmas tree can get a little messy, especially if the tree is dried out. To prevent needles in the house, lay a bed sheet on the floor, lay the tree down on the sheet, wrap the sheet around the tree, and take it outside through the closest exit. One big perk, live Christmas trees are recyclable. Check community resources for curbside pickup options or central drop-off points in your area.
For many people, the smell of fresh pine needles and juniper berries is a family tradition that’s a big part of Christmas. Perhaps it’s time to start a new tradition in your home with a live Christmas tree that creates warm, nostalgic family memories of the Christmas season.