Hollister
– Friday after Thanksgiving is always a big day for shopping.
But not everyone was fighting crowds at the mall.
Hollister – Friday after Thanksgiving is always a big day for shopping. But not everyone was fighting crowds at the mall.
For some families, opening day at Bourdet’s Choose and Cut Christmas tree farm held more attraction than any super sale. Visitors walked through rows of still-growing Monterey pines and Leyland cypresses; when they found a tree they liked, they made a selection from the farm’s convenient rack of handsaws and started cutting.
“We can cut it for you, but most people like to cut it themselves,” said John Bourdet, who runs the farm with his wife Tina.
Bourdet said he’s been selling Christmas trees locally for 20 years, including five previous years at his current location. His farm also offers pre-cut Oregon trees, which Bourdet said won’t grow in Hollister’s climate.
Bourdet wouldn’t say exactly how many trees are for sale, but he predicted that the trees would be “kind of picked over” by the weekend of Dec. 8.
Rebekah Morris of San Martin said her family has been buying their Christmas tree from the Bourdets for several years. They first heard about the farm through advertising, Morris said, but they kept coming because they loved the experience.
“The staff is always friendly, and it’s always fun,” she said.
Bourdet told the Free Lance that families come from as far away as Merced to purchase one of his trees. He’s been trying to make the farm a fun experience; on weekends, it features food, a petting zoo and Santa Claus.
Bourdet and his employees also offer tractor-pulled “sleigh rides.” The adults packed into the “sleigh” on Friday morning seemed relatively unimpressed, but their children excitedly scrambled over their seats to get a peek at the paintings of elves that Bourdet has scattered around the farm.
There is, however, one addition that Bourdet said he will never consider: artificial trees.
“That would be sacrilegious,” he said. “They’re not artificial, they’re fake.”
Bourdet added that artificial trees take away from the Christmas experience.
“The biggest part of the experience is the family going out and selecting a tree to take home together,” he said. “There’s something wrong when Mom is yanking a tree out of a box in the garage, while Dad is sitting in the bedroom watching football and the kids are playing down the street. The kids miss out.”
When asked if she’d ever considered buying an artificial tree, Morris had a similar response.
“I had one of those growing up, and I don’t want to start that tradition again,” she said.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at (831) 637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
