GREAT FALLS, VIRGINIA—

Nearly 80 percent of U.S. households — about 99 million — will decorate their living rooms with a Christmas tree this year, according to the American Christmas Tree Association.

While artificial trees have grown in popularity, many Americans consider it a tradition to visit a tree farm to get a fresh-cut, natural tree for the holiday season.

"We have our Christmas tree. ... We're going to take it home and decorate it," tree buyer Abby Springmann said recently. "It's kind of a backwards concept, to take a tree from outside and bring it indoors," she laughed while explaining the tradition.

"We're putting lights on it and ornaments, lots of ornaments. You collect the ornaments for years. I got ones from since I was 5 years old. It's fun!" she said.

Tree farm

Krop's Crops, a seasonal farm in Great Falls, Virginia, is where Springmann has been going with her family since she was 7 years old.

Buying a tree for the holidays at this local tree farm brings back lots of childhood memories and preserves her family tradition, she said.

During the holiday season, visitors can also buy decorations, such as poinsettias, wreaths and ornaments. The farm also sells seasonal vegetables, local honey and handicrafts all year round.

Larry Krop is the owner of this eight-hectare farm, which employs three generations of the Krop family.

"There's a lot of customers who come in and said, 'Larry, this is our 22nd, 23rd, 24th year' (of coming to the farm). We go back to 1986, so it's almost 30 years coming up next year, that we've been selling trees up here," Krop said.

Family farm

Although he has employees, Krop said he relies more on his children.

His son, Andy Krop, says, "Basically you're your own boss. Even though I work for my dad, we do what we know, what we need to get done -- being able to come up with ideas, new ideas of things that we can do for the business and other side businesses that we can work off of the land."

It takes about five to 10 years for the trees to reach the ideal height — between 1 and 4 meters. Prices vary from 48 to 400. The Fraser and Canaan firs are bestsellers.

Many factors come into play in choosing the "perfect" tree — the type of tree, its color, the shape and feel of the needles and boughs, as well as height and width.

Once a customer finds their perfect tree, the farm staff will trim the lower branches to make it sit in the tree stand, shake loose any needles, and then wrap it in a net to make it easier to transport home.


根據美國聖誕樹協會的說法，近80%（約9千9百萬）的美國家庭(household)，今年將用聖誕樹裝飾客廳。

儘管人造樹已經越來越流行(grow in popularity)，許多美國人仍認為造訪一趟林場來取得現砍的真樹已是節日傳統了。

樹買家艾比‧史賓曼最近受訪時說：「我們有自己的聖誕樹。. . . . . .我們要把樹帶回家裝飾。」她邊笑著邊解釋這個傳統：「我們把樹從室外拿到室內，這好像是有點『顛倒的』概念。」

「我們在樹上裝了燈和許許多多的裝飾品(ornament)。這些裝飾品都是歷年收集來的。有一些是我5歲時拿到的。很有趣吧！」她說。

林場

柯羅普農場位在維吉尼亞州的大瀑布城(Great Falls)，是季節性的農場，史賓曼從7歲開始就與家人一起來這裡。

在這個當地的林場買樹過節帶來了許多童年回憶，也保留了(preserve)家族傳統，她如此述說著。

遊客於佳節期間還可以買其它的裝飾用品，如聖誕紅(poinsettia)、花圈(wreath)和裝飾品。農場全年(all year round)也販售時令蔬菜、當地的蜂蜜和手工藝品(handicraft)。

賴瑞‧柯羅普是這8公頃農場的主人，農場上雇用的員工則來自於其家族三代的成員。

柯羅普表示：「有很多客人一來就說，『賴瑞，這是我們的第22、第23、第24年（來這個農場）。』我們的農場從1986年開始，所以到明年，我們在這裡賣樹的時間就差不多有30年了。」

家庭農場

柯羅普雖然也有員工，但他說他更依賴他的小孩。

他的兒子，安迪‧柯羅普說：「基本上，你就是自己的老闆。即使是在父親手下工作，我們知道我們該做的事──我們需要提出想法，為生意找出新思路和其它可以成功利用土地的附屬業務。」

樹木約需5至10年的時間達到1到4公尺之間的理想高度。價格變化(vary)從48到400美元不等。弗雷澤冷杉(fir)和迦南冷杉是賣最好的暢銷品(bestseller)。

有許多因素會影響(come into play)客戶選擇「完美的」聖誕樹：樹的種類、顏色、針葉與樹枝(bough)的形狀和感覺，以及高度和寬度。

一旦客戶找到了自己完美的樹，農場工作人員會修剪掉(trim)較低的枝幹，把樹立座在樹架上並搖掉(shake loose)多餘的針葉，然後包在網子裡，讓客戶更容易把樹運回家。