"We are glad that the tradition of bringing your own tree home from state forests has found so many followers - it is very nice going to the forest together, finding a suitable tree and spending time together bringing it home," RMK chief forest officer Andres Sepp said.

This year, RMK gifted 106 trees to 14 hospitals across Estonia to provide some happiness to doctors and nurses, who had a difficult year. "We also wanted to give all the people who had to spend their holidays in hospitals some Christmas cheer," Sepp said.

The Christmas tree sale initiative is not a way of earning income for the institution, but rather another option of getting people out into nature and maintain the tradition of bringing home a tree for Christmas. RMK has provided people with the opportunity since 2008.

7,260 of the 9,290 Christmas trees were paid for by mobile phones this year, the rest were either paid for by invoice or bank payment. 1-2 meter trees are most common.

"The RMK also received a few questions about grabbing a pine tree instead of a spruce," Sepp said. "That is allowed, the main thing is that the tree has to be taken from a place where it does not have much hope of growing tall, such as from a shore of a ditch, the roadside or from under a power line."

More info on the initiative is available on RMK's website here, a map of the state forests can be found here.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!