Real, fresh-cut Christmas Trees delivered to your door.  The Fresh Cut Fraser Fir Christmas tree is the most popular Christmas tree in North America and is shipped into every state in the continental U.S. This tree will be 6 1/2 to 7 feet in size. We emphasize Fresh Cut because they are cut the day they are shipped. They will arrive in 1 to 5 days, at your doorstep, enclosed in a waxed lined box.

Many "lot trees" are cut in November and shipped in an open truck and may sit up to 4 weeks before being sold. The Fraser Fir is fragrant and the sturdy Fraser branches support the heaviest ornaments. The Fraser Fir has soft short needles which accentuate a deep bluish-green color. Our Fresh Cut Fraser Fir Christmas trees are known for their outstanding needle retention. Order your fresh-cut tree today.
 

With the rapidly approaching holiday season, we all begin to think thoughts of Thanksgiving dinner - OK, so I realize that many out there, especially in the retail arena, pretty much ignore Thanksgiving - and families and snow and decorating the house.  Like it or not, the "season" is upon us, and I hope that you all will find the time to relax a bit, even though the pace seems to want to rapidly accelerate until the end of the year.  But with most of the leaves already on the ground and snow flurries having already visited, there seems to be an unmistakable aura around here... by here, I mean the Mid-West.  My family once moved to California for several years while I was in college, and even though it was very cool to live close to the Rose Bowl (Watching the parade in person is incredible), I always missed the change of seasons that is so enjoyable to be a part of.

Lights begin to line the rooftops, city work crews begin to hang decorations on the street lights and lamp posts, and most of the time the local sidewalks and shops are filled with smiling faces - oftentimes despite the biting cold of the approaching winter solstice.  And my favorite thing to do is to light a fire in the fireplace and anticipate the taste of that first eggnog as the smoke and embers curl their way up the chimney.  The joy that I have always experienced ever since I was a small boy is the day that I can go and pick out the Christmas tree for the house.  I always thought that it was so much fun, even though my father sometimes seemed to play the same seemingly cranky role as the father (played by a young Darren McGavin) in "A Christmas Story".  Back then, the lights that we used to trim the tree were absolutely huge and gave off a tremendous amount of heat.  What I never realized or thought about was the ever-present risk of fire resulting from that heat and an evergreen tree that was certainly green but also very dry.  I was too young to think about the fact that once cut down, the tree ceased to be alive and would dry out rapidly in the heated and non-humidified air inside our house.  Ultimately, any Christmas tree can become a dangerous fire hazard.

Of course my Mom seemed to always get stuck with the task of keeping the tree watered; it therefore stayed as fresh as could be expected.  It was a full-time job, since a tree can consume as much as a quart of water a day during the first week indoors!  But as I look back, my sense is that the trees were a bit fresher back then.  I believe this to be the case because I never remember even looking for a tree until at least a week after Thanksgiving... they simply were not available.  Nowadays trees have been more in demand and Christmas tree farming has become really big business.  In fact, about thirty-five million Christmas trees are produced each year and 95 percent are shipped or sold directly from Christmas tree farms.  Many trees are often cut in early November - sometimes earlier - and shipped in open trucks, which hastens the rate at which moisture evaporates from the tree.  One can also now order fresh-cut trees from the Internet, which helps to insure that the tree will stay fresh longer.  But in the event that your family might be more like ours when I grew up, perhaps you can ill-afford to spend a lot on a tree.  If that is the case, chances are that it will be drier and more difficult to keep fresh. 

Although today's lights are much smaller and give off far less heat, the most important thing to remember is that there always remains the danger of a spark or even the open flame from a nearby candle that will cause a beautifully decorated tree to become an incredibly dangerous fire hazard that can ruin in short order more than just Christmas.  According to the U.S. Fire Administration website, more than 33 million American homes include a natural tree in its festivities.  Also, a recent article I read stated that "Christmas trees are involved in more than 400 fires annually, resulting in 30 deaths, 90 injuries and more than $17 million in property loss and damage.  So what can be done in order to minimize that danger?