Christmas tree boom brings joy amid pandemic

In a year where everything has been turned upside down, traditions are holding us together.

Christmas tree lots and farms are reporting early and enthusiastic interest.

At Olympic Christmas Trees, in Rancho Cucamonga, the owner told  FOX 11 they ordered about a third less trees because of the pandemic.

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To his surprise, the demand is greater than ever. He’s hoping he will have enough trees to see the season through.

Meantime in Perris at Sand Haven Pines it was a similar story.

They opened tbefore Thanksgiving and business has been brisk. 

We found families wandering through the farm looking for the perfect tree; punctuated by the sound of children’s laughter and tree saws.

Here, the trees go for ten dollars a foot.

You can cut down your own or get help. At first glance it looked like any other holiday season.

But then you see the hand sanitizers and the mask clad patrons. No getting around it, we are in a battle with COVID-19 one dad said, “Normalcy. That’s what we’re looking for.”

It seemed to me that families found not only normalcy, they found joy.