I have put “MywalkinManhattan” project on hold to get ready for the holidays again! Here comes Christmas!

The holidays are always zipping by and Christmas is no different. We went right from Halloween night and the Halloween Parade to Christmas. The moment it was over, all the Christmas decorations went up. It seems that we no longer bother with worrying about Thanksgiving. I swear that Christmas starts with the July Christmas sale at all Hallmark stores and does not stop until Three Kings Day in January.

Myself and John at the old Christmas tree lot in 2002 when I returned home

The Saturday before Thanksgiving is when we set the lot up for business. We rake the entire property, put together our Christmas shed and then the stands to hold the trees. We have had a lot more help with new members over the past three years.

Our trees just keep getting better

The Saturday after Thanksgiving for me means Christmas Tree delivery for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association, which I have been a member of for twenty-one years. I can’t believe that time has gone that fast. It seems like ten life times ago that I returned home from Guam.

The organization has been building on the success of the sale over the past five years and this year we extended the amount of trees we bought to 340 over the 315 last year. I thought we ordered an even 350 but we must have readjusted it. Still that is the most amount of trees we have sold since I have been in the organization.

Last year we were sold out by the second week of December and had our annual party at the lot with three trees left. I had never seen so many trees sell out so fast. Our word of mouth has been very good. I have also tried to get the Upper West Side customer from Manhattan to cross the bridge to buy their trees here.

I swear that I was pricing trees while I was finishing my walk of the Upper West Side in 2018 for my ‘MywalkinManhattan’ project and trees that we were selling for $45-$55 vendors were selling for $100. It was just nuts.

We also bulked up on the fraizers this year. They are the pine trees that look the most typical ‘Christmasy’. They as of this weekend have almost all sold out. People tend to decorate early because of work schedules and I swear, we had not even emptied the truck on Saturday and we sold two trees. We sold eight by the end of my shift at 6:00pm that night.

For all of you readers and bloggers who need a Christmas tree, we are located on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Terrace Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ and our prices go from $45.00 for a small Frazier to $100.00 for a ten foot tall Balsam. We are open as long as the supply lasts.

Hurry up as I was on the lot last night and there were forty-one trees left! By the night of our annual tree stand party we sold out! 340 trees in less than three weeks! A new Men’s Association record!

The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association in 2017

Myself and Kyle Kasper and his wife at the 2018 HHMA Dinner

2018 was another great year for Christmas tree sales. We are hoping for another repeat in 2019. We sold all 375 Christmas trees in three weeks!

 

The members of the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association at our 2019 Annual Dinner

In November & December of 2020:

With the success of the sale in 2018, we bumped the amount of Christmas Trees to 375 in 2019 and we sold out again by December 16th so our goal for 2020 was going to be 400 trees. We as a organization knew that we could do this but when COVID hit we were unsure of what would happen. So our President decided that we would keep it at 375 trees again for 2020.

We really lucked out as the week of set-up before Thanksgiving and the drop off the weekend after as the weather was sunny and in the 60’s. This is unusual for this time of the year. I worked all three days after the drop off working from 9:00am to 10:00pm on Friday, from 2:00pm to 7:30pm on Saturday and then from 10:00am to 6:30pm on Sunday.

Christmas Tree set up is a lot of work

All three days were spectacular with sunny weather in the low 60’s. I was amazed at the early crowds that we had and we sold 35 trees and two stands on Friday. This was the most we had ever sold on a first day of selling. The first full weekend of selling we sold 152 trees and 6 stands. That was our best so far.

I want to thank the residents of Hasbrouck Heights and our surrounding communities for support of our sale every year. Now it is time to sell the rest of those trees!

The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association in 2020 in the era of COVID

An update from 2020, we sold all the trees out, all 375 of them, by Friday night, December 11th. A new record for us!! 

Christmas 2021:

Our new sign on the corner of Terrace Avenue and Franklin Avenue

This was out most amazing year! We sold 390 trees (we were shorted 10 trees by the vendor) and sold them out in a record week and half (11 days) plus all the branches were gone. When I went in for my Monday night shift that next Monday, the last two trees were gone and I got the last eight branches that someone had not stolen. The site was wiped clean.

Our best year yet!

The Men of the HHMA Christmas 2021-Thank God the masks are gone!

Thank you to the Hasbrouck Heights and surrounding communities for your support! You will be helping a lot of students with their time in college. We always appreciate your support.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone who bought a tree and to all your families, please stay safe during the holidays!!

 

Watch my successful commercial for YouTube below and watch the trailers for my two favorite contemporary Christmas movies. They really show a different side of the holidays.

Me selling Christmas trees on the lot with member John Horem.

Merry Christmas!

 

My Christmas tree sales video on YouTube.

Update:

In 2018, all in all 339 trees were sold and one was stolen from the lot. We raised over $8000 for student scholarships and want to thank all of customers for their support!

In 2019, we sold all 374 trees that we had on the lot and raised over $10,000 for the student scholarship fund. Thank you again everyone!

In 2020, we sold 152 trees the first weekend. Let’s keep that momentum going everyone!!

In 2021, our best year yet, we sold 390 trees in a record 11 days! New Record!!

 

My two new favorite contemporary Christmas movies, “Christmas Again” and “White Reindeer” sad but optimistic views on the holiday. Try to get your hands on these two great indie films.

‘Christmas Again’

 

‘White Reindeer’

Merry Christmas Everyone and Stay Safe!