GETTING INTO THE TREE-BUYING MOOD

With temperatures in the 70s, it's not really beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

However, operators of Cape Girardeau Christmas tree lots say the lack of the traditional seasonal climate isn't hurting sales.

While some lots got an early jump on the season by opening a few days before Thanksgiving, most opened for business Friday.

"Business has been good for this early," said Dave Kinder, of Kinder's Tree Works, located in the Schnucks parking lot on Kingshighway.

However, he admitted that he wouldn't mind a more typical environment.

"It would help if it got a little colder and we got a little snow," Kinder said.

Mark Kasten, chairman of the Cape Girardeau Optimist Club's tree lot near Town Plaza on William Street, said it seems odd for people wearing shorts to be out choosing Christmas trees.

"There have been a few people buying," Kasten said, "but I think it might be too warm for some people to be thinking about buying a Christmas tree."

Balmy temperatures have been a boon at the Meier Christmas Tree Farm on County Road 330 southwest of Jackson. "The warm weather is bringing lots of people out," Steve Meier said. "And it's a blessing to us having to work outside. We don't have to shiver and freeze all the time."

At the Meier farm, customers are chauffeured to the trees on wagons pulled by teams of Belgian horses or mules. "People love to go out on a horse-drawn wagon and we take them whether they buy a tree or not," Meier said.

Lavern Wachter, who was riding a wagon with her daughter, Vicki Miller, Saturday, has been coming to the Meier farm to get her Christmas tree since it opened in 1989. "It's a neat adventure to come out here," the St. Paul Lutheran School teacher said.

She was there to pick out an 8- or 9-foot Virginia pine to match her cathedral ceiling. A new crop ready at the farm this year, Virginia pines grow faster than the farm's other pines -- "We hope to have some 12-footers next year," Meier said -- and have two-toned coloring.

Miller, a nurse at Southeast Missouri Hospital, has an artificial tree but also buys a "real tree" each year. "It makes the house smell good," she said.

The Meier farm is a family-run operation with Steve's wife Teresa operating the new Christmas shop and his sons Adam, Ben and Charlie helping cultivate and harvest the trees. They have 10,000 to 11,000 trees altogether, about 1,200 of which are marketable this year.

Marion Tucker, who runs a Christmas tree lot next to Pizza Inn on William Street, said tree purchases don't begin in earnest until the first weekend of December.

"Probably next weekend business will start to boom pretty good," Tucker said.

Tree sales, he added, have fluctuated little in recent years.

Prices vary from lot to lot and depends on the type of tree, but the general range is $8 to $100.

A number of different types of trees are available locally ranging from balsam firs shipped directly from Nova Scotia, Canada, to Scotch pines grown near Jackson plus others, including blue spruces, Douglas firs and Frazier firs.

While most customers are looking for full-sized trees, short ones just a couple of feet high are also popular. Kasten calls such trees "Charlie Brown trees," in reference to the long-popular Christmas television special.

"People actually come in and say: 'Do you have any Charlie Brown trees,'" Kasten said.

After you buy a tree, it is important to get it in water as soon as possible, Tucker said, to keep it from drying out and becoming a fire hazard.

If a tree isn't placed in water quickly, sap will coat the bottom of the trunk and prevent the tree from absorbing water.

Most tree lots will stay open through Christmas Eve, though some, such as the Optimists, will close as soon as they run through their supply.

"We sold out about seven days before Christmas last year," Kasten said. "By Christmas we pretty much had the stand closed and gone."

TREE SAFETY

Simple steps can prevent tree mishaps

While Christmas trees are a key part of the holiday tradition for many, having one in your home requires a degree of care and attention.

By following a few simple steps, families can prevent fire hazards and eliminate conditions that could be unsafe for children.

The Cape Girardeau Area Safe Kids Coalition offers the following Christmas tree safety tips:

-- Keep your tree in a container full of water and check it daily.

-- Turn off tree lights before you go to bed or leave home.

-- Cover the tree basin with a tree skirt or blanket.

-- Keep the tree away from heat sources such as fireplaces, radiators and heating vents.

-- Trim the lower branches to avoid eye injuries to small children.

-- Don't put breakable ornaments, ornaments with small, detachable parts, ornaments with metal hooks or ornaments that look like food or candy on low branches where small can reach them.

-- Keep lights out of the reach of children.