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Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes lined the hillsides at Trees-R-Us farm.
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Don Berg and his wife Sue discuss the shape of Christmas trees Sunday at Trees-R-Us in Winona. The Bergs have shopped at Trees-R-Us for the last ten years. "We want at least a six-foot tree," Sue said. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
After taking time to find the perfect tree and using their criteria, such as height, shape, aroma and soft needles, the Bergs settled on a six-foot balsam.
The Winona couple said Sunday afternoon that they have visited Trees-R-Us every December for at least 10 years. For the Bergs, selecting and decorating their tree, like other rituals, is a reminder that while many things change — kids grow up, loved ones grow old — Christmas comes every year, and a tree comes with it.
The value of that tradition isn’t lost on Trees-R-Us co-owner Denny Rollman, who said he relishes the seven days he opens the farm each year.
“We get a lot of people coming in year after year,” Rollman said. “You get to watch their kids grow up, almost. They just keep coming back.”
Tree farming is just a part-time job for Rollman and Trees-R-Us co-owner Dave Heydt, both of Winona. But maintaining a tree farm is more complicated than just welcoming customers: Rollman and Heydt plant about 1,000 trees each year and hope 400 will become salable.
The men shape the trees each summer with long sculpting blades that resemble giant steak knives; they also check for pests such as weeds, deer and bugs.
The ideal result: a farm full of six- to seven-foot-tall trees with a full shape and few defects, like the one selected Sunday afternoon by the Braaten family of Goodview.
Picking a tree seemed to mean more to the Braaten children — Anneliese, 12, and Anders, 9 — than to their parents, Paula and Bruce. But the tradition also makes memories for mom and dad: Like the time when Anneliese was younger and, after decorating her tree with homemade ornaments, she became so attached to the tree that she slept beneath it.
Sue Berg remembers visiting the tree farm each December with her two children, who are now grown, to pick out multiple trees: one for themselves and others for elderly loved ones who could not haul their own.
The tree-picking process, Berg said, became as perennial as winter’s first snow.
“It really is part of Christmas,” Berg said.
