Earlier this week, we told you what to look for when picking out a real Christmas tree and we introduced you to some families who do it every year.

And their family tradition is actually helping the Commonwealth.

Every year thousands of families in Virginia cut down their own Christmas trees at local farms.

And each year they do that, it's a $50 million contribution to Virginia's economy.

"Two weekends before Thanksgiving, there were people out here cutting trees,"said Paris Rasnic.

Rasnic owns Moose Apple Christmas Tree Farm. They've been in Berryville since 2000 and has 25,000 Christmas trees.

"Getting a fresh tree makes a lot of difference. Any tree that you buy off of a lot, some places they start cutting those trees as early as the first of October," said Rasnic.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says trees grown in Virginia are the freshest available. They say they'll last longer than trees from other states. And people as far as Florida have taken advantage of trees grown in Berryville.

"A lady came here and picked out one of the Concolors and we shipped it by UPS to Miami. So that's the farthest a tree has gone, all the others people come here to pick them up," said Rasnic. "And we have repeat customers coming here from Eastern Shore of Maryland, there's three or four customers that come back each year from Richmond, and just all over the place."

Because of that, these trees obviously have a big effect on our local economy.

"All the money that comes in here, obviously we live here so we spend the money here. But also all the sales tax and everything stays in the local area and the Clarke County, Northern Virginia area," said Rasnic.

He says it's also healthy for the land too since trees can be recycled. Trees grown in Virginia are a renewable source.

For each tree cut, two to three seedlings are planted in its place.

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