Family-owned Honey Bear Trees remains a fixture in San Carlos

“This little guy is probably 3 years old,” Holloway said.

Ten-foot tall trees are in their early teens, she noted — and bringing one home is part of the experience that family-owned Honey Bear has provided Peninsula residents for decades.

Artificial trees can’t match the real ones grown in Oregon, Holloway adds.

“They don’t feel like Christmas,” she said.

Honey Bear plants a tree for every one taken from the Pacific Northwest, said Holloway, whose mother Juddi Cocco has the same passion for the perfect Christmas tree.

“We’re very fussy,” Juddi Cocco said.

Ask Shelly Cocco Holloway about the perfect tree and she talks about nature deciding on uniformity — a full tree with the least number of holes. Peak tree sales? Not on Thanksgiving weekend but the one following.

Ivan Benn, 24, who works at the tree lot, talked about the tradition of families selecting the holiday tree.

“It’s a very big decision,” Benn said.

Honey Bears’ love for trees — and its support of local schools — leads to loyalty.

Redwood City resident Christine Triska has been going to Honey Bear for 15 years. She appreciates that a portion of sales go to local schools, which receive $10,000 to $15,000 yearly from tree sales.

“We like to donate,” Juddi Cocco said. “Our kids went to school here.”

Support for schools extends to providing a way for South Africa students to visit California and work at the Honey Bear lots in San Carlos and Redwood City on Woodside Road.

Jenelle Evans, 22, who studies kinesiology at North-West University in South Africa, said her accent stumps some customers. They ask if she’s from Scotland. Australia and Ireland are among other countries that people think may be her home.

“Most people say, ‘I love your accent,’” Evans said. “We love yours.”

Just what an American — or Californian — accent sounds like is not easily described. But it’s different from South Africa, particularly the “R’s.”

It’s summer now in South Africa but Christmas is still a big deal — a Thanksgivinglike event when families gather for dinner.

Benn at the San Carlos lot is among visitors from South Africa and he marvels at how everything is bigger and better here.

“Everything works,” the 24-year-old said.

Seeing the prime real estate of the Peninsula has given him a new goal.

“Now that I’ve seen Atherton, I wouldn’t mind living there,” Benn said. “Now it’s my dream.”

Christmas tree lots in California like Honey Bear face competition from big retailers including Home Depot — and, on the Peninsula, a demand for the land where trees are sold.

Honey Bear has been along Woodside Road in Redwood City for 30 years but now the property is slated to be developed, Shelly Cocco Holloway said.

Her years of work with Christmas trees hasn’t diminished her love for the holidays.

“I still marvel at the beauty of it,” she said. “It’s still what it was meant to be.”

ryan@smdailyjournal.com

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