A Tradition of Christmas Trees in Boston
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: On this Friday before Christmas, a taste at Christmas past. CNN's Bill Delaney looks at a holiday tradition that seems to improve the more it stays the same.</s>BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To the humble Christmas tree stand at the corner of Harvard and Cambridge Streets in Boston, it's a long way from Germany, the 16th century, when Martin Luther himself first popularized the Latvian custom of the Christmas tree. Tradition...</s>DAVE BAKER, CHRISTMAS TREE MERCHANT: It's frozen stiff at the moment.</s>DELANEY: ... Dave Baker is heir to; 23 years in the Christmas tree trade.</s>BAKER: In this world of commercialism and hectic pace, this little lot with the trees and the smell, the people seeing the smiles on their faces, the children that come, why people come here, tradition. This reindeer shirt, sweatshirt I have on, is 23 years old. I wear it every year. People ask me about this. They want to see faces and this lot.</s>DELANEY: For years now, more and more of the 35 million Christmas trees sold every year have come from big lots at big shopping malls, practical, like another Yuletide convenience. (on camera): There is, of course, a way to avoid going out in the cold and having to choose just the right tree, and trying to decide whether to shop at a small independent lot, or a big corporate one. About 40 percent of trees in living rooms this Christmas will be artificial. (voice-over): For the Dave Bakers of the world, though, that just will never cut it.</s>BAKER: People sometimes ask us, why don't you put fancier lights up, fancier signs, um, more commercial stuff? I don't know, it's just part of who we are, and why we're here, and many people love that. I think they just love the simplicity of it all.</s>DELANEY: You see, at the corner of Harvard and Cambridge in Boston, it's not just about selling Christmas.</s>BAKER: Have a nice holiday.</s>DELANEY: It's about loving Christmas. Bill Delaney, CNN, Boston.