This might be my absolute favorite Christmas tradition that we started back on 13 December 2014. No, my memory isn’t just that good, Facebook memories will just get you every time with their throwback pictures. So, what did we start that day? Going to the cut your own Christmas tree farm for our live tree and we haven’t missed a year since.
How did the tradition start?
If you read my first Blogmas post of this year, which of course you did, duh, you know I grew up with faux trees and continued on getting them once I was old enough to have my own tree. I was perfectly content with them until one year, the beautiful white faux tree I’d purchased years before was suddenly yellowed as if someone had peed on it and it’d been left in storage to marinate. After extreme devastation … seriously, I cried … we purchased a live tree from the grocery store. I fell in love with the smell and new life it felt like the tree brought with it, so I’ve just been getting a live one ever since.
Nothing about getting a tree from the grocery store really says Christmas to me, and I liked the idea of truly selecting my own tree that I harvested myself, so I went on the hunt for a cut your own tree farm.
Where do we go?
Living in Fort Mill (it’s basically Charlotte except not at all), Penland Tree Farm is the closest, with fabulous reviews, so off we went. Ideally, I would have traveled up to the mountains and chopped the tree down amongst the snow but no one is trying to take a 3 hour drive with a tree on their car.
Penland seemed pretty perfect because the prices were pretty straight forward and cheaper than tree stands around town; we paid $30 for our 6 1/2 ft. tree that year. Trees aside, they had free tree clippings you could use to make garland and/or wreathes, a fire pit to get warm and a set up where you could purchase stuff for smore’s (or bring your own stuff if you wanted). There’s free hot chocolate and hayrides around the farm. It’s a whole experience, so even if you don’t find a tree you love, you can at least partake in the other things and feel like the trip was worth your time.
Our cut your own Christmas tree farm trips over the years
Do you prefer to a faux tree, a live tree from the store, or to go to a cut your own tree farm? Please, let me know in the comments. While you’re here, don’t forget to check out yesterday’s Blogmas post and, as always, thank you for reading!
