Pining for Christmas

The most prominent yuletide symbol has no wrapper or bow, only a deep aroma and a lush coat of needles. But those hawking Christmas trees hope to keep up sales even as tough economic times cut into this season's market.

Less than a week into the holiday shopping season, lots in Yuba and Sutter counties have started selling noble firs, Douglas firs and silver tips harvested in Oregon or the North State during the final days before Thanksgiving. But independent tree sellers have reduced their stock, anticipating slower sales in a down economy wracking a region hit by home foreclosures.

Baker's Christmas Tree Farm, at Stabler Lane and Colusa Avenue in Yuba City, has assembled 1,280 trees at its Yuba City stop, 200 fewer than a year ago, said co-owner Marcie Baker. The Linda Firefighters Association put about 100 fewer firs on display than the 600 it sold in 2007, according to Billy Gardner, a fireman helping to sell the trees to raise funds to donate to Boy and Girl Scouts and youth athletic programs.

Despite the reductions, whatever customers are able to take a tree home don't appear to be skimping on price or size — especially the early comers. "This early in the season, we're still getting the people buying the 8-foot or 9-foot trees," Gardner said at the tree lot outside the Linda Fire Department's Scales Avenue station. "Later on, that's when you get those who want the cheaper ones."

Baker, whose family grows its trees in Oregon, said she has reduced prices from the 2007 holiday — and held out hope that enough Mid-Valley families would spend money for Christmas sentiment even while cutting other expenses.

"There's not a huge difference in pricing; people still want their big tree, and that's what they're going to get," she said outside the candy-striped canopy shielding her stash of trees beside Stabler Lane. "I think this year it'll be about having a traditional holiday, having family around and having a tree — and maybe having a few gifts instead of piling lots of them under the tree."

Local prices for noble firs and Douglas firs, the most popular varieties, range from $29 to as much as $120 for a 14-footer, though some few chain stores have advertised 7-foot trees for as little as $20.

Among the tree hunters on Tuesday was George Urbina, who walked among the rows of firs at the Stabler Lane lot. He soon set his sights on a bushy Douglas fir nearly 10 feet tall — and thought of his two children, 4 years old and 1 month, who soon would see it in their Marysville home, arrayed with ornaments and an angel on top.

"Getting this, it's all about them," he said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat re-porter Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com.