Almost time!

Christmas Tree sales season starts 7 weeks from today, November 24, the day after Thanksgiving.

Many Choose & Cut farms and retail lots around the country will open up that day. Many farms are already open for pumpkin sales and Autumn agri-tainment. If you’re going to get some pumpkins to decorate for harvest season and/or Halloween, and you want a fun family day outing in the country, check the Christmas Tree farms in your area to see if they are offering pumpkin sales. Many of them also offer hay rides, corn mazes, haunted barns, gift shops, arts and crafts, and many other activities.

Here at NCTA, we’re gearing up for 3 big things this year.

First is the essay contest. We have had many questions and inquiries about the contest already this year. Here’s an example from Amanda:

2005 Season

3/18/06 - Spring Work; Starting a Farm
12/30 - Christmas Tree Fires #%?!
12/23 - Christmas Funnies
12/21 - Bird Flu Vaccine
12/18 - Contest Entry
12/16 - Cats, Shearing & Helicopters
12/15 - Don't Be A Fake
12/14 - Water Level; Politics
12/13 - Smelly Tree; Mail Order
12/12 - Interesting Questions
12/09 - Watering; Longevity
12/06 - Allergies
12/03 - Trees for Troops
12/01 - Hot Water for Trees?
11/30 - Colorants
11/29 - More Pets; Trees for Troops
11/28 - Pets & Trees
11/27 - Flocking
11/26 - First Blog Entry
  When to Buy a Real Tree
  Real Tree Care
  White House Tree; Grand Champions

Hello,

My name is Amanda Walker and I have been trying to download the entry form and official rules for the contest but for some reason it will not work. If you could please help me with that, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Amanda Walker

Yep Amanda...and all other kids out there. The contest will be held again in 2006 and the entry forms are ready for downloading and printing. You can find a link on the front page. The entry form has already been downloaded more than 3,600 times since we posted it in mid-September!

The second big thing we will be concentrating on this year is the 2nd Real Trees for Troops program sponsored by the Christmas Spirit Foundation and Fed Ex. Christmas Tree farmers all over the U.S. will be donating more than 14,000 trees this year while Fed Ex delivers them to more than 20 military bases. It’s an ambitious but very worthy effort. You can read about the plans so far and support the program through this link:

http://www.christmasspiritfoundation.org/programs/trees4troops/home.htm

The third thing we’ll be concentrating on is new for 2006 and related to the Trees 4 Troops program. The National Scrapbooking Association and the Christmas Spirit Foundation will be coordinating Harvesting Memories, a srapbooking crop and shop experience on Veterans Day - November 11 - to raise funds for Trees for Troops, a nationwide effort to boost the Christmas spirit for U.S. military men and women. If you are a scrapbooker, you don’t want to miss this.

Here’s a link to more info http://www.harvestingmemories.org/.

As you can see, it’s going to be a busy year, especially if we see another increase in the number of fresh, farm-grown Christmas Trees purchased for the third year in a row. Check back often in the coming weeks as we’ll start posting more frequently.

The main blog contributor is Rick Dungey, who works as Public Relations Manager for the National Christmas Tree Association. Other people on the NCTA staff and members of NCTA will also contribute posts. Rick has answered media and consumer inquiries for NCTA for more than 9 years. You are welcome to send responses or questions to the blog, but be aware that not all posts will be made public and all will be reviewed prior to posting.

We look forward to your input – if you have a question or comment to share, send it to info@realchristmastrees.org

Please note: we use a fairly sensitive e-mail spam filter. Please try to use an obvious phrase in the subject line, such as "Christmas Tree Question" or "Blog Topic."

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