The real deal

Christmas is Mary Lou Flemal’s favorite time of the year.

This year, she will put up four trees, two fresh-cut and two artificial, to decorate for the holiday season.

“Decorating the trees just puts you in a good mood,” she said. “I love hanging popcorn and cranberry strands. This year, our main tree will be all about birds. My husband and I both enjoy watching birds and have traveled to different countries to see them.”

On Dec. 2, Flemal and her husband Ron, both of DeKalb, bought a real tree from Wessels’ Family Farm, 2023 Sycamore Road in DeKalb.

“We always love having our family over for Christmas and our grandchildren love our trees,” Flemal said. “Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing them because of COVID. But we’re still decorating our house and putting up our trees. We’ve always had a live tree. That’s a big part of a good old-fashioned Christmas.”

Mike and Elena Griesbaum of DeKalb bought a 7-foot-tall Canaan fir tree from Wessels. They planned on decorating it that night with heirloom ornaments and colored lights.

“We usually cut down our tree, but our daughter is grown up and is getting her own tree this year,” Elena Griesbaum said. “Decorating a Christmas tree brings back so many good memories. It’s definitely one of our favorite holiday traditions.”

According to the American Christmas Tree Association, buying a Christmas tree is a holiday tradition shared by many Americans: About 25 to 30 million real trees are sold every year. In 2019, 26.2 million trees were sold.

Almost 96 million households, or about 77%, displayed a tree in their home for the 2019 holiday season, according to ACTA’s annual Christmas tree survey conducted by Nielsen. Of the Christmas trees purchased last year, 81% were artificial and 19% were real.

Randy Espe, owner of Whispering Pines Reindeer Ranch and Tree Farm in Shabbona, said the number of people interested in decorating for the holidays with a real Christmas tree “has skyrocketed.”

Espe already has sold out of pre-cut trees on his farm.

“We sold about three times as many trees this year as last year,” he said.

Espe opened – and sold out – of Christmas trees last weekend.

“We’re pretty much sold out,” he said. “We had no idea it would be so busy the first weekend. We were so busy, we won’t have trees the rest of the season.”

Espe credits the sales boom to milder weather and the need to get outside of the house during the pandemic.

“I think people just want to get outside,” he said. “Because the holiday season is all about spending time together with your family, creating memories.”

Camelot Christmas Tree Farm in DeKalb also has sold out of trees. The farm closed for the season on Dec. 4.

Lydia Myers of Wessels’ Family Farm said they were “unexpectedly busy the weekend after Thanksgiving.”

“We sold out of wreaths twice so far, and that’s never happened before,” she said. “We’ve also sold a lot of bigger trees this year.”

Al Haseman, who operates a tree lot at his business, Splash of Color, 1700 DeKalb Ave. in Sycamore, said he’s also been busier than in previous years.

“I’ve noticed that there are a lot of younger and first-time live tree buyers this year,” Haseman said. “A lot of people want fresh-cut trees. I think it’s because they’re living and they have a great fragrance.

“Every Christmas tree is unique. Some are taller, some are shorter, some have bare spots and irregularities,” he said. “I think that’s what makes them special, and I think that’s why people are purchasing more live trees in recent years.”