Don’t forget about Talinis.

December 15th, 2008 at 10:59 am

I have to go commercial here. For the last four years we have found amazing, reasonably priced trees at Target. This year, looking for something bigger, and in hopes of stimulating the economy one small business at a time, we tried a few old fashioned tree lots, two of them had a much smaller selection, one of them the trees were seriously all brown on the tips, and all three were grossly overpriced. I am fine with reasonable mark-up but this was like buying a bottle of wine at the Slocum House kind of mark up. What appeared to be 50%+. We truly never found a tree we liked at any of the lots, so we headed to Target. 9ft Noble Fir $49.99. The equivalent tree at all three lots was @ min $79.99 @ max $99.00.

My wife and I didn’t know…should we tip Target employees who trimmed, wrapped and loaded tree on top of car?

December 15th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Yeah- A good tip is to tell them the take classes in conversational Chinese.

Will you people please stop with the WalMart type tree purchases? 1) They come from freaking Lousiana/Brazil/Nantuckett and have to be shipped, 2) You are sending the $ to Louisiana or France or whatever, 3) All to the detriment of the local businesses.

If you have to got to Home Depo, buy a live one for $30, replant it in a bigger pot every year, and bring it in for a month in December. Use the tree for 5 years, then plant it, and then start over. $30 for 5 years. Even more savings if you top it after its planted and use the top!

And don’t throw away old shoes/chicken bones/apple cores- just spray paint them gold & silver and hang them up! Instant ornaments for free.

December 15th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Like I said, I would love to support local business, but they need to be even relatively competative, and offer a high quality product. If they don’t, i’m not going to spend twice the money for half the quality.

December 15th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Cut your own tree. This guarantees that you are buying locally and you still get a pretty good deal. Plus, you get bonus sap.

Here is a map of the X-mas tree farms in El Dorado County: http://207.104.47.50/christmas.asp

If you do not want to trek that far, I recommend Billy’s Farm in Wilton. Good selection, nice folks and $5 a foot. And, yes, they will also flock your tree.

December 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am

I got my retro-aluminum tree on e-bay.

December 16th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

The North Star Tree Farm – Shoo Fly Farms is awesome. It’s a little drive, being just north of Placerville. It’s a terrific visit to the country and the Xmas spirit abounds as you wander the extensive grounds that don’t feel like a tree grid, but has ponds, paths and hot cocoa.

http://www.chooseandcut.com/treefarm.html

December 16th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Pssh. Everybody knows that Christmas trees are grown by Santa, so the only way to get a local tree is to shop in the North Pole.

Davis Ranch is also pretty close, and you can cut a great tree for $35 (still!)
http://sacrag.com/2007/11/davis-ranch-the-best-tree-bargain-around/

December 16th, 2008 at 2:15 pm