In the age-old debate of fake versus real fir, there’s no contest: Authentic Christmas trees win hands down.
The smell of Fraser Fir trees fill a home like a waft of mom’s apple pie–it can be duplicated with a faux version. So if one of your weekends involves chopping down your own, head to a Georgia vacation rental for a weekend to make a mini-vacation out of it.
In the Blue Ridge Mountains, which happens to be the home of the cabin featured in this post, you’ll stumble across the Blairsville Southern Tree Plantation, a veritable forest of 250,000 fine specimens of Colorado Blue Spruce, White Pine, White Spruce, Balsam Fir and four more varieties. Choose from pre-cut trees or take the saw to your own special tree after a long, leisurely stroll through the maze.
The train, hay- and pony rides, marshmallow roasting and petting farm are activities that are almost as magical as seeing the kids barrel down the stairs on Christmas morning or seeing that Spruce being lit for the first time.
It will be tempting not to extend your stay in the cabin for longer than a weekend (and set that tree up right there), but just think of this experience as a precursor to next summer’s vacation … or the first of many future tree-cutting weekends away.
