Buy it whenever you would like to. The trees you see on December 24 are the trees that were left from the initial shipment. They do not replace the trees since the lots never sell out so you get whatevers left. If you keep the tree well watered (just like the lots do) you should not have any problems with trees drying out too early. Or go green! Buy a tree with a root ball and plant it after the season.

Often it is true that it will not make a difference when you purchase a cut tree from a local retail site. Typically there is one main shipment. However, some places do receive a later supplemental shipment after the post Thanksgiving rush. These trees may be a bit more freshly cut. An independent Christmas Tree Lot retailer, who has specialized in selling Christmas trees over many seasons, may have some good insight on this. They have to line up the shipment with a grower and trucking company and often have a direct link to the grower and when the trees were cut. They usually work with the same growers year after year. Ha! Getting a truthful story of a supplemental shipment from the tree salesman may be difficult though. Here is some other data. Tree lots like it when there is occasional rain, so the cut trees don't dry out too much. Some big box stores don't "water" or spray down their trees -- this would mean a dryer tree for the buyer. Think about it and it will make sense... ...many cut trees are cut a good number of weeks in advance. There is no telling when the tree was actually cut. A good number of cut trees are lightly spray-painted green. Yea, I am not kidding. The first time I sold Christmas trees, this fact surprised me too.

All I can say is that I just bought my Tree this past Friday and it is already dry!!! We put water in the tree stand with some tree saver that we purchased from the tree farm, and the water is still at the bottom of the stand the tree has not absorbed any of the water and now my tree bristles are rough and feel very dry! I'm very worried about what it will be like in a few weeks from now. Does anyone have any suggestions please let me know!! Thank you, Shannon