Mike Tavares prepares a Christmas tree Wednesday for a customer at the tree lot near Renaissance Park.
Annabella Rollins got what some experts call the perfect tree for her first Christmas.
The 9-month-old slept in a stroller as her parents roamed among the 350 trees in the Cherokee Boulevard tent, but the salesmen knew which one they’d pick before Annabella’s dad walked to the counter with it.
“I knew that one was going to go first as soon as I put it out,” said Mike Tavares, who manages the stand. “It just had a really good shape. I’ve been looking at trees so long, I know what people are going to like.”
The Rollins family was the first of the year to buy a tree at the Tom Sawyer Christmas Tree Farm, getting a head start on the holidays on Tuesday. Annabella’s mother, Vanessa, and father, Nathaniel, said they always shop for real trees over artificial ones for the smell, tradition and shopping experience.
“We always like to come early because, for one, you get the best pick,” Nathaniel said. “We like to get a jump on Christmas.”