Christmas Trees Herald the Start of the Holiday Season

Christmastime waits for no one. For 22-year-old Charles Therrien, the season started at 4 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, when he began to sell Christmas trees at a stand on the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and Myrtle Avenue.

“These are all [Fraser Firs] from North Carolina. They’re supposed to last long.” Thierren said, gesturing at the rows of trees wrapped in bundles of twine leaning against a makeshift wooden frame.

In order to succeed in the Christmas tree business, sellers have to get a jump on the season. With only a little more than three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, pulling a profit can be tricky. A tree has to be able to live at least through Christmas, or else the seller may face the wrath of an unhappy customer.

“People like the smaller trees because they’re cute,” Therrien said. “Or they’re on a budget. The classics are six feet tall, though.”

Just a few blocks down Myrtle Avenue, rows of bundled Fraser firs have appeared in front of Greene-Ville Garden, a local grocery store. Michael Ju, 54, has managed the store for 30 years and they’ve sold Christmas trees for nearly as long.

“Our trees get delivered directly from the White Mountains, so we can sell cheaper than other places,” Ju said. “Ours last long because they’re not cut early. Sometimes people cut them in September or October.”

Despite his pride in the trees he has selected for the store, Ju is worried that problems with the economy will impact the number of trees he will sell this season. His goal this year is to sell 500 Christmas trees. Although Greene-Ville Garden only has Frasers at the moment, he is expecting a shipment of Balsam firs for next week.

“Balsam is a little less expensive,” Ju said. “Some like it because of the smell, but Frasers last longer.”

He reached out and grabbed a small branch on a nearby tree, just out of its nylon webbing and starting to unfurl. Ju bent the branch back and let it go, watching as it gently moved back into place.

“That means it’s fresh,” he said. “If we don’t sell fresh ones, nobody shops next year. Christmas trees make people happy. This is not a yard sale.”