A tale of two Christmas tree traditions

Billy Howell, co-owner of Howell Christmas Trees, agreed that Black Friday was “real busy”, though he said that “usually the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the biggest day of the year, but who knows?”

The convenience is nice, but many don’t want to miss out on the fun family experience of picking a tree every year.

Nick Wiggins, owner of Plantation Pines, says it typically takes about four to five years to grow a Christmas tree, depending on the weather.

“We wanted to start family traditions for her”, said Ashley Williams, talking about her 11-month-old daughter Payton. “It marks the beginning of our holidays”.

Newby said he doesn’t know when their trees will arrive in Florida, but said he hopes sometime this week.

“One for the living room, one for my sons, the boys’ bedroom and then one for the office”, said Jay Prine.

A dry live Christmas tree can be unsafe coming in contact with lights that will heat up when on for a long period of time. “It’s just our tradition”. The farm and veterans alike say it’s something they look forward to every year. “This year though, they have a two-year-old, so it just wasn’t going to happen today”. “It’s something they do to be together, and whether they spend five minutes or two hours to pick a tree, it means more to them than just going to a store”.

The Christmas Spirit Foundation has been running the Trees for Troops program since 2005.

The Hardesty family returned for their 30th year of finding a tree at Hickory Ridge, bringing a box of donuts for Rieppel and his workers to mark the occasion. Wiggins said each tree at his farm is marked with a price tag.

He’ll sell up to 800 of the trees before Christmas.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, North Carolina is the #2 producing state in America with more than 4 million Christmas trees sold each year.

Trees can’t be cut down in the following areas– campgrounds, at trail heads, designated wilderness areas, developed recreation sites, posted timber sale spots, recently planted areas, or within 50 feet of any lake, stream or wetland.