Massachusetts Could See a Popular Holiday Tradition Become Threatened in a Few Years

Christmas is a little more than a month away and many families throughout Massachusetts will be getting prepared for the holiday if they haven't started already.

Activities and traditions such as baking cookies, decorating, buying presents, writing Christmas cards, and setting up the Christmas tree are all on many families' dockets this year. However, one of those traditions may be threatened in the future.

When I was growing up my family would purchase a real tree each year. It was always an adventure as I felt like we were in a Clark Griswold situation. The tree would either be too dry, off balance, or just have some type of idiosyncrasy that would make the experience unique and memorable, and not always for the right reasons. There was one year when the tree was cut too short and we had to place it on top of a box. That was quite the visual.

Massachusetts Residents May See Christmas Tree Shortages in a Few Years

Many families prefer having a real Christmas tree but with the current drought across the northeast, many Christmas tree farms are having a hard time keeping young trees alive.

According to various media reports, this isn't an immediate issue because many farms have older trees that aren't affected by the drought thus customers won't see Christmas tree shortages this year. However, the new trees can't grow due to current drought conditions, and as such 25% of this year's crop of young trees have been lost according to farmers in the Northeast.

If you get a real Christmas tree this year count your blessings because in about five to six years the shortage will catch up and there won't be as many full-grown trees to offer to the public.

Let's do a rain dance and start getting some precipitation so this trend doesn't continue or else many people throughout Massachusetts whether it's Boston, Springfield, Worcester, and all points in between will have to shift to buying artificial trees or opt for a treeless Christmas.