MOORESVILLE — The week surrounding Thanksgiving is the time when many families will get their Christmas tree.
Reno and Cassie Smith live in Carmel, but moved here five years ago from California.
"This year is actually the biggest one that we've had since we moved here," said Reno Smith.
The family invited WRTV in to see their recently decorated Christmas tree.
"Coming from California, it's not common to go cut down your Christmas tree," Cassie explained. "When we moved here, we knew we wanted to start a fun little family tradition."
Their tradition is visiting Jay's Tree Farm in Mooresville, which sits just off the Morgan-Hendricks County line.
The Jay family started selling Christmas trees in 1987. In 2024, new owners took over the business. The new owners, however, weren't new to the farm.
For brothers James, Johnny and Jake Jay, their holiday tradition included visiting and helping on their uncle's tree farm.
"We spend a lot of time out here with our cousins and our uncles and parents," explained James Jay.
Of course, the brothers had their share of fun growing up on the farm, too.
"We used to put the younger kids in the tree shaker sometimes, and shake them a little bit," James Jay shared. "That was more of just joking around."
As the brothers grew, they learned how to run the farm.
"In 2015, our Uncle David stopped planting trees, and that's when we started planting," said James Jay. "In ten years, all of our uncle's trees are gone, and now what's left are ours."
The three brothers are now the co-owners of Jay's Tree Farm.
"It's fun. We get along very well, and we've been sharing the responsibilities," James Jay shared of taking over the business. "It's a good tradition, and we want to continue it as long as possible."
Johnny Jay talked about how the trees grow and some of the work that needs to be done to ensure the trees survive.
"Seedbed preparation is really important when planting Christmas trees," explained Johnny Jay. "We try really hard to break up compaction, so water drains out of the soil well, because little Christmas trees do not like standing water."
That was especially important in spring 2025.
"In a year like this, where we had ten inches of rain in April, we did have some trees die," Johnny continued. "With the work we did to get the seedbed prepped and picking the right tree variety for the right type of soil, I think we're able to mitigate our losses."
After trees grow to full size and are sold, the field is cleared and replanted in the spring.
Did drought have any impact on this year's tree crop?
"Typically, Christmas trees can survive under drought conditions a little bit better, and they're actually built for sandy soils where water does drain out of it pretty quick," Johnny Jay continued.
Despite this, the Jays have had to invest in some irrigation.
"There have been some years where we've had to rent water trucks and go through each row and dump water along the row," Johnny explained. "It is a big time commitment and financial stress when the trees start to need a little extra attention."
Even with all this work, it is worth it for the brothers.
"It's always fun to see customers leave happy with a tree that we've been taking care of for ten years," said Johnny.
This year, the Jays have about 1,000 trees ready to be sold for the season.
Most of the sales happen on a single day.
"We do about 40 to 50 percent of our sales on Black Friday," said Jake Jay. "I'd like to say it's organized chaos."
Jake Jay recalls some of his most memorable customers.
"There have been multiple Pacers players or Colts players," Jake said with a grin. "It's always cool when you get to meet one of your favorite Colts or Pacers players or Fever players.
Jake went on to describe the countless families that visit the farm, some repeat customers like the Smith family.
"We definitely take pride in being a part of so many families' traditions," Jake described. "A lot of memories that we're making for kids to come out and cherish as they grow up."
"It's our first year with our daughter," said Cassie Smith, in her living room next to her gussied-up tree. "She just loves looking at the lights on the tree all day long. It's her new favorite thing."
"We want to continue this family tradition for years to come with our daughter now, and all of our future children," Cassie continued. "It's been so fun."
