When does the Christmas season start?
I know retailers would love to start the Christmas shopping season on Dec. 26. But they seem to be content – for now – with beginning Christmas on Halloween.
Which is about a month sooner than folks used to start thinking of Christmas, after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is now the day we eat turkey to give thanks for all the store sales which we are about to receive.
For me, though, Christmas begins on a different day each year. This year, Christmas began Nov. 14. That’s the day I received the postcard from the Dombrowskis.
The Dombrowskis own and operate m the Dombrowski Tree Farm in Powers, Michigan. The farm was started by Cleo “Dooley” Dombrowski more than 25 years ago. His sons Joe and Marty now operate the business with other family members.
Each year, the Dombrowskis open a Christmas tree lot in the Fenwick High School parking lot at Madison Street and Oak Park Avenue. My wife and I have been buying our Christmas tree from the Dombrowskis for years. And every year, the Dombrowskis send a postcard to their regulars announcing the lot’s return.
Nothing fancy, the red-and-green cards say, “Happy Holidays! We are at the corner of Madison and Oak Park Avenue. We will open for the season on November 27th. As always we appreciate your business and hope to see you again this year.”
And each year, as if by magic, Fenwick’s parking lot is transformed into a fragrant forest of pines, spruces, frasier firs and balsams. There are all sizes – from trees to TREES, as well as wreaths, garlands and boughs.
The Dombrowskis and their workers are just what you’d expect and want in people who plant, nurture and sell Christmas trees – open, friendly, regular guys in billed caps with earflaps and who wear plaid shirts. They’re from Michigan. They don’t need coats.
As I mentioned, my wife and I shop for a tree together. I can’t be trusted alone with such a decision. Heaven knows what kind of Charlie Brown gnarled monstrosity I would come home with.
I mentioned this once to Justin Dombrowski, who laughed, “We get a lot of that. Buying a Christmas tree is pretty much a female decision.”
So, in the next few weeks, my wife and I will join other couples looking for just the right tree.
In past years we’d want the biggest tree we could fit into our living room. Now, we seek a tree I can carry up the stairs without having a stroke, and which has room for the cat to lie under comfortably.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.
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