Searching for Christmas spirit, and failing
There was in my neighborhood this year a dire shortage of Christmas trees. Hubby and I tried six times over two nights to purchase our very own conifer.
The biggest bush at Trader Joe's was 18-inches. Too small even for me.
OSH was sold out. Amazing!
Ralphs had 9 of the sorriest looking trees ever. No thanks.
The corner tree lot was closed at 8:27 pm on a Wednesday night, perhaps because of the rain. I could not talk a guy watching over the trees from a trailer to make a quick sale. Darn. Should have sent Hubby. He's a better talker.
Costco was closing and only sold faux trees anyway.
Vons was sold out, too. Bizarre.
This is when I started to think there was a conspiracy against Christmas trees this year. Perhaps because of the economy retailers purchased fewer trees, thinking more people would skip the expense. 
But I reckon in hard times people crave a sense of normalcy. Christmas without a tree? No really, everything is fine, kids.
At least, that's why Hubby and I made a seventh attempt Saturday afternoon. Neither of us wanted Christmas to come without a tree. Surely the corner tree lot would be open the Saturday before Christmas. Phew, it was.
I fell for an adorable lollipop of a tree, above. But Hubby wanted one taller than his knee. My limit was $30, which did not leave many options.
Eventually we settled on a well trimmed noble, right, for $19.95 plus tax. She fit perfectly in the MINI and only needed one strand of lights to restore my Christmas spirit.
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About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
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Glad to see you and hubby at least got a tree for your holiday!
As far as a "shortage", it could be a couple of things. 1) Consumers purchased their trees earlier than in years past, tied into a shorter than usual holiday shopping season, 2) Retailers are managing their inventory tighter by ordering less trees and 3) Maybe more people just wanted to have a "live" tree, hence the "shortage" in your neighborhood.
Last weekend as I was slutting around Santa Clarita, many of the big box stores had no live trees remaining, only Target had a few left.
Reminds me of Passover earlier this year, Matzoh was very, very hard to find and their was a definite shortage.
Maybe the Christmas tree farms and the matzoh bakers are conspiring together to ruin each ones respective holiday!...LOL
Enjoy your little tree...it's cute!
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
Aha! So it wasn't just my neighborhood that had a shortage of trees. Hope you eventually found Matzoh. ~Julia
A couple of weeks ago they were everywhere in the West Valley. I went to fake a couple years ago and love it. No mess, no fuss and at my age that is very important. Saw a couple of nice ones at Home Depot last week but they were around $30. Enjoy yours. Finding it is half the fun, right, smile?
Hi Julia,
Merry Christmas. Two tree tips...if you're up for the drive, out in Fillmore, there is a "cut-down-your-own-tree" farm which we've gone to the past few years...fresh as can be, lasts FOREVER and right around $30...downfall, you can pay extra for shaking the needles out, netting and loading, but those are all optional...AND they don't carry the lovely firs to cut down.
Secondly, us Santa Clarita folk have a lovely little
nursery out here called Green Thumb. We bought a
beautiful Douglas Fir, seven feet tall for $28.97..
Love it!
Hope that helps! Your Charlie Brown Christmas tree is
very sweet though.
-kim
Great tips, Kim! Cutting down your own tree sounds like a great holiday tradition. Maybe next year we will make the trek. ~Julia
I'm confused. The Xmas tree lot on the corner of Burbank Blvd. and Coldwater Cyn, in the Valley College parking lot...was loaded with trees.
Happy Holidays friend!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
I think the tree lots are the last places that have any trees! I was surprised that many other places that sell trees were basically out.
~Julia