The Christmas Forest elves are busy in the workshop making gorgeous wreaths from the exquisite noble fir of the majestic Cascade Mountains. They are ready to help you start one of the best family traditions you’ll ever make! Their customers return year after year because they know this is where they can buy the freshest wreaths and garlands and they want to share them with everyone on their gift list. The incredibly fragrant greens and berries “start the season” for many.
The folks at Christmas Forest have come a long way from their humble beginnings in 1976 when it was just Mr & Mrs Holt designing and crafting the wreaths. The two of them would leave home by 4am to be at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle when the roll call for booths began at 6am. One of them would work the booths (many times located out in the rain) while the other one would go door-to-door on Queen Ann Hill. The wreaths are so nice that they averaged a sale every third door. At the end of the day, it was back to the workshop to make wreaths late into the night.
It was a great learning experience, helping the Holts find their niche of providing the highest quality evergreens available, thus beginning a thriving family business 34 years ago.
Christmas Forest provides 50 – 60 jobs each season for residents in a Washington state county with very high unemployment rates. Because the majority of the Christmas Forest elves return year after year, they’ve become a very close family – they work there because they love what they do and they love pleasing their customers. The production crew and artisans are so proud of the work they do that they put their name tag on the back of each wreath they make. The office staff also gets to know the customers personally and looks forward to talking to them every year.
The harvesters do not cut down any trees to make the Christmas wreaths. In the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, they harvest the tips of the branches, which actually promotes the growth of the trees. Trimming the branches of the noble fir trees is beneficial to the trees and thus great for the environment.
Even the beautiful bows are handmade by the local Christmas Forest elves during the off-season, making Christmas Forest products truly Made In America by local crafters!
The Christmas Forest Mission is to thrill their customers with exquisite wreaths and ornaments; to impress them with unsurpassed service; to respect their employees with fairness and opportunity, and to honor mother earth with responsible forest care.
Christmas Forest ships worldwide and they look forward to sending a wreath to you. Buy one of the wreaths with ornaments or start with the Rustic Wreath and add your own ornaments.
Article and images used with permission from ChristmasForest.com
Our third visit was with Leonda of Browning, Montana who uses colored glass to create vibrant ornaments. She says that her favorite ornament is the red buffalo which has real buffalo fir for the tail. She cuts the colored glass into the shape that she wants, and then she uses copper to enclose that shape for a finished look. She often uses copper for the tails and manes of the animal ornaments. Leonda has a great assortment of ornaments mostly depicting Montana life and animals. The pretty blue horse above is so nice that we brought it home to display in our office. An experienced artist who has worked with art glass for many years, she will create custom ornaments for you if you call her at 406-338-3158.
