Christmas trees: a symbol of family celebrations

Hundreds of millions of Christmas trees are grown and harvested across the world annually for festive celebrations. Cameryn Watling from Trendy Trees spoke to Sabrina Dean about how they diversified their business with imported live trees.

- Cameryn Watling

Tradition, family, love and joy with just a sprinkle of glitter and sparkle. Those are just a few of the words we associate with Christmas, and one of the most iconic symbols around this time is the Christmas tree, the cone-shaped pine, spruce or fir bedecked with lights, baubles, stars, angels and reindeer.

For mother and daughter team Michelle and Cameryn Watling of Cape Town-based Trendy Trees, it is their busiest time of the year. They specialise in providing both artificial and live Christmas trees, including the trees, the decorations and the experience, catering to clients ranging from average South African families to retailers or corporates hosting year-end functions, to expats or foreign tourists.

"From around November every year we are practically covered in glitter from head to foot," says Cameryn.

She says it is a frantically busy time for them with their goal being to capture the essence of the tradition and enable people to enjoy a proper Christmas experience.

Their live tree segment, introduced to the business roughly three to five years ago, is specifically geared to cater to those with a hankering for an authentic Northern Hemisphere Christmas.

"There is just something about the smell of a live tree, it fills the whole space," says Cameryn.

Before we get into all of that though, a little background on Christmas trees.

NOT JUST ANY OLD PLANTATION PINE