Tag Archives: christmas

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CVU Community, Opinion & Review, Our Natural World, Vermont, Volume '22, Issue 1, Weather

A Guide to Christmas Trees: When to Buy, How Much You’ll Pay, and Artificial trees versus Traditional

By Jocelyn Kaplan

A Christmas tree is a common centerpiece to the American Christmas experience. Getting a Christmas tree is more nuanced than it may seem, as it involves several aspects. The buyer must contemplate when to purchase the tree, the price, and whether an artificial tree or a living tree suits their needs best. 

Many Vermonters agree that the best time to obtain a tree is in the beginning of December. CVU senior Anna Arsovski agrees that anytime before December 1st is too early, “If you get your tree too early, it’ll be dead before Christmas.”

Country Living agrees with Anna, stating, “Typically, real Christmas trees last five to six weeks if they are looked after properly.” Many Vermonters follow Country Living’s advice and get their tree three weeks before Christmas. 

CVU seniors Julia Hunt and Maggie Whitman both wait until after the Thanksgiving festivities to end before getting a tree. Julia Hunt discusses how her family wants the healthiest tree for Christmas: “Most of the Christmas magic comes from the tree, and one you get too early in the season will be droopy and sad.”

While many Vermont families get their tree the second December rolls around, getting a tree is a several hour process that does not easily fit into everyone’s busy schedules. Robert Kaplan, a Vermont attorney, gets his Christmas tree two days before Christmas every year. “It’s the first real time I have off to spend several hours picking and transporting a tree. In a perfect world, I would get it early and have it up all season, but it’s not feasible for my family.”

The economic factor that comes with buying a tree is a big consideration of when families get their tree. According to Time Magazine, the busiest day to get a tree is the first Saturday of December. The weekend after Black Friday is when Christmas tree prices skyrocket.

Prices can reach as high as $80 during the first weekend of December, and fall as low as $30 right before Christmas eve. Maggie Whitman’s tree purchased from a tree farm in Huntington was $60. Robert Kaplan’s tree was only $35 on the Wednesday before Christmas last year.

If getting a cheap tree is a priority, waiting until as close to Christmas as possible would be the best option. Another financially secure option are artificial trees.

Artificial trees eliminate the hassle of buying a tree every year and worrying about the tree dying, but they are an investment. According to Consumer Reports, the average artificial tree purchased in 2019 was $104, but due to pandemic related supply chain issues the new average price for an artificial tree is $131. While artificial trees are initially expensive, the overall cost is cheaper as they are only purchased once. 

Owning an artificial tree is a less common option, but it is a very legitimate replacement to a traditional tree, along with several surprising benefits.

Lindsey Auriemma, a CVU senior, switched last year from a real tree to artificial. “I think my parents were sick of cleaning up the needles on the ground. Also we always know it’s going to fit in the house, which isn’t a guarantee with real Christmas trees. One year our tree scraped the ceiling and there was serious damage.”

Daynara Galvez, a CVU senior, has always had an artificial tree. “My mom thinks they’re prettier and also more manageable. It’s expensive initially but the investment pays off every year.”

While an artificial tree is manageable and prevents the mess a Christmas tree brings, the buying of article trees impacts small tree farm businesses. A Christmas tree farmer interviewed by the Huffington Post says, “Farmers plant millions of Christmas trees every single year, and without the business to sell them, they could lose thousands of dollars spent on the tree care.” An artificial tree may be cheaper in the long run, but it hurts the businesses around the community. 

Overall, Vermont citizens appear to get their trees early in December and while the tree is in good condition for Christmas, they have to deal with the hefty price tag. The ideal time to get a tree based on cost would be Christmas Eve, but the cheapest long-term option would be investing in an artificial tree. Getting an artificial tree does impact small businesses, so if able to buy a living tree from a Christmas tree farm that would be the best option. 

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Arts and Sciences, CVU Community, Vermont, Volume 12: Fall '21

CVU Chamber Choir & Madrigal singers participate in Holiday Events

By Mazzy Ricklefs

The CVU Chamber Choir & Madrigal singers participated in two holiday events on Friday, December 10th. They attended the Madrigal Festival at St Joseph’s Cathedral in Burlington and then joined other high school choirs at the top of Church Street for a group performance by the giant Christmas tree. They then performed their own choral repertoire including Carol of the Bells and Deck the Halls for people passing by further down Church Street.

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On Saturday, they performed outdoors at “Winterfest”, an event hosted by the Vermont Children Trust Foundation. They performed a twenty minute set, three times, enjoyed by many families passing through Maple Street Park in Essex. Catherine Case and her family braved the chilly weather to listen to the performers. “It’s a nice break from the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations and reminds me that the season is really about joy,” she said. Wylie Ricklefs, a bass singer with the Madrigals, said,” It feels good to finally be able to perform for people after all the hard work we’ve put into this.”  These performances were a great kick off to the holiday season!   

These performances embodied the relief both students and community were feeling after a long period of Covid induced isolation. Not having public performances for so long, including the lack of live holiday musical programming in 2020 was hard on musicians and audiences across the board. The overall sentiment of both the performers and the audience was that they need each other and this happens best with in-person music. 

When asked about the impact these live holiday performances had on both students and their audience, CVU Choral Director Cameron Brownell responded, “Choral music is all about community, so it was very special to come together as a CVU community and as a Vermont community with other high school choirs from around the state. It was a powerful experience to gather around the tree on Church Street and join our voices together for the first time in 2 years! Although we’re still not back to pre-COVID concerts and events, everyone involved has been so grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to hear live music in the air. Singing prepares our hearts to connect with others and I know my students are happier and healthier because they sing together!“

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CVU Community, US Headlines, Volume 12: Fall '21

New Nightmare Emerges for Christmas Shoppers: Sony Cuts Back Production of PlayStation 5 even more due to Chip Shortages.

By: Harrison Young-Glatz

Sony’s PlayStation 5 is now the fastest selling console in history, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down yet. According to the NPD Group (a market research company) and Sony, the PS5 is the best selling console in terms of money and units sold. There have been 13.4 million consoles sold since its release on November 12th, 2020, and no hard numbers on money released by either company.

As the console’s first year is coming to an end, it is still selling out immediately every restock at retail, and it doesn’t look like things are going to change for Sony any time soon. The units sold in its first year rivals that of the Nintendo Wii, one of the most sold consoles of all time. What makes the PS5 so special is that it is still in such high, high demand after a full year of release, and things aren’t getting any easier either.

As of November 11th, 2021, Sony has declared that they are going to cut production of the PS5s even more due to shortages of essential parts like power management chips. Toshiba Corp., the biggest producers of these chips stated that things are unlikely to normalize even in 2022. 

These shortages will make Sony’s sales goals of 16 million units by March, and 23 million by 2023 very hard, but will make Christmas the next couple of years even harder.