A Bucket List Christmas :: Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree
This holiday season, I was able to check an item off of my bucket list: cutting down our own Christmas tree. All thanks to the New Orleans Mom article: Where to Cut Down Your Own Christmas Tree in Louisiana & Mississippi. From the article, we had a plethora of farms to choose from that were within an hour of driving distance from our house. I was very surprised with how many places have the “cut your own tree options.” We decided to go with Yawn Station Christmas Tree Farm. They are located in Independence, Louisiana. A little past Hammond, it is almost an hour from our house in Metairie.
I searched their website in early November to check out the hours and what was needed. The website had a FAQs page stating that no experience was needed; they supplied the hand saws, wagons, etc. And if you need an employee to cut down the tree for you, that was also available. They recommend going early in the season. We went November 23rd Typically, I refuse to get the tree before Thanksgiving, but this date worked best for our family. There were already a nice number of trees claimed when we were there.
The farm’s hours are 9 am to 5 pm. We arrived to the farm around 2 pm. There were a good bit of cars there already with ample parking available. The location is so large that it wasn’t overwhelming with people and didn’t feel crowded. The weekend we went they had a petting zoo and pony rides for an additional cost. The kids loved this. There was also a little marketplace with vendors selling various items from fresh produce, soaps, Christmas gifts etc. The farm also offers field trips and a day for cookies with Santa, all which can be found on the website. There is a concession stand on site with hot snacks and various drinks.
The trees they offer are Leyland Cypress. I clearly have no idea about local vegetation and didn’t realize that Frazier Firs do not grow in our area. However, they did have plenty of firs available for purchase that were brought in. At first, I was a little bummed about it not being a Frazer Fir, but the fullness of the cypress is beautiful and still produces that great Christmas scent.
The trees were tagged with height and prices. The prices range based on the height (offering trees from 3 ft all the way to 14.5ft). Our tree was 7.5 ft and was $78.00. I was pleasantly surprised by how reasonable this was. Once you pick the tree, you get back on the train to get the hand-held saw and the wagon.
Before we decided on the tree, we of course had to take three hundred pictures amongst the evergreens for future holiday cards. There are also plenty of photo op spots located around the farm.
Next came the fun part. For the kids and me. We watched my husband, Andrew, show off his “skills” and cut down our tree. Andrew was a great sport about it. He mentioned it was harder than it looked, especially with a hacksaw. My brother-in-law and friend, who also had to cut down their trees, agreed that it required a nice bit of effort using the handsaw.
The employees wrapped it for us and placed it on the hood of our car. We were there total for about two hours which gave us plenty of time to enjoy the vendors, petting zoo and cutting down the tree. I would recommend going early in the season because there were a lot of trees already picked out when we were there on the 23rd.
All and all it was a fun experience. We made some core memories with the kids and supported local businesses. Would we do this again? Absolutely! The price was so reasonable I would do this every year (pending husband’s approval since he had to do the labor).
