DADE CITY — Nana told Joshua and Nicholas Wood she wanted a little Christmas tree, so that is just what they found. “This one, this one,” shouted 7-year-old Nicholas. “Here’s a ‘Charlie Brown tree’ for you.” While his grandmother — who the boys call “Nana” — watched, 5-year-old Joshua helped his dad cut down a Choctawhatchee sand pine. “Back and forth,” Adam Wood told his son. “I’m pushing and you’re pulling.” It only took a minute to saw the 2-inch trunk of a 5-foot tree.
The boys from Spring Hill tried not to get sap on their hands as they carried it across the Ergle Christmas Tree Farm. “Anything for Nana,” said their mother, Amanda Wood. She wore flip-flop sandals Friday evening for a warm holiday outing north of Tampa. This time of year, Ergle does a brisk business in Florida-grown trees. The choices include Leyland cypress and Southern red cedar. The prices, ranging from $20 to $50, are much less than for trees trucked in from out of state.
Business goes up as the temperature goes down. “If it was 30 degrees cooler,” said Tony Harris, who runs the farm, “this whole parking lot would be full.” Driving and cutting Jeff Dirling, a Manatee County fireman, traveled all the way to Dade City to buy a red cedar. It was a 90-minute drive each way, but he didn’t care. “We always cut our own Christmas tree,” he said. “I love the idea of finding a tree and cutting it.
And it lasts a lot longer.” Dirling and his wife, Vickie, were enthusiastic about their trip and their tree. They talked about the time, when they lived in Pittsburgh, they had to climb a hill in freezing weather to find the perfect one. “That was a good day — this is a good day,” he said. Recalling the movie “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase, he said, “I’m like Clark W.