Photography: Robert Trathen.
It’s a story passed down through the generations of Francesca Lockyer’s family: how, during World War II, her grandmother Ivy Fuyala and her siblings sold macrocarpa branches over the holidays to passing American soldiers stationed in Auckland.
Hoping to bring a touch of cheer to the young men far from home, this simple act inspired the start of Misa Christmas Trees. Now granddaughter Francesca, 19, is part of the fourth generation proudly caring for the festive farm.
“I’ve always loved coming here because everyone is in such high moods, cheery and in the Christmas spirit,” beams Francesca.
A marketing and communications student in Wellington most of the year, Francesca heads back to the family’s Mount Eden farm every November, where she’s busy organising deliveries, helping families pick the perfect tree and even decorating custom trees for clients.
A Christmas elf since childhood
“I’m pretty much a Christmas elf,” laughs Francesca, who was aged 10 when she first started helping out her older cousins, aunt and uncle working on the family farm.
“It’s normal for me because I grew up with it, but when I tell people I work on a Christmas tree farm and decorate Christmas trees for a job, they’re always like, ‘That’s so amazing.’”
A legacy begins on Christmas Day
Sharing her family’s treasured memories, Francesca tells the Weekly that perhaps the first good omen of the legacy to come was her grandma Ivy’s birth on Christmas Day.
“My great-grandad Tom Misa used to live around the corner above a fish ’n’ chip shop,” she tells.
“Every night, he’d take my grandma and her siblings for a walk past this huge section and say, ‘This would be the perfect place for you to grow up.’”
One night, they saw a For Sale sign and with it the chance to make the dream a reality. The spacious one-hectare Misa Christmas Trees property remarkably still stands in the heart of the otherwise heavily developed Mount Eden. It was here that Ivy and her siblings gathered branches to sell to soldiers at the front gate.
From wartime branches to Christmas trees
“They were training in Potters Park just up the road and would pass by the farm to buy macrocarpa branches for their New Zealand girlfriends to spread the Christmas spirit,” explains Francesca.
From those humble wartime beginnings, the farm slowly transformed.over the years thanks to a wider family effort, including Francesca’s great uncles Brian, Roni and Karl, great aunts Sylvia and Olga and grandmother Ivy.
“They used to have chickens, but from selling branches, the idea came to spread Christmas joy instead, so they started planting trees.”
For years, Ivy delighted in returning each year to reminisce and pick her own tree, but now entrusts her grandchildren to choose and deliver one for her.
Grandma’s memories live on
“My grandma loves it,” says Francesca.
“She always talks about her memories growing up here.”
These days, there are around 2000 trees on the farm, including some impressively giant variants called Reindeer trees.
“They take eight to 10 years to grow that big,” she explains.
“The biggest ones are called Dancers and are 3.5 to four-metres tall. We also have Dashers and Comets. When you stand next to them, you feel so tiny.”
Family traditions at the farm
The wider family still gathers here each Christmas for a big shared lunch and lots of games.
“I remember coming with my sisters and cousins over the years, running around the Christmas tree farm playing hide and seek and tag,” shares Francesca.
“Every time I would see the trees getting bigger and bigger.”
Now helping others experience the magic is a highlight of the job.
“When a family comes in with little kids, they’re so excited,” she says.
“You hear them talking about Santa and wanting a big tree that can fit lots of gifts under it! Seeing the Christmas joy we bring to people is amazing.”
A family-run Christmas tradition
The farm is owned collectively by the extended family. Francesca works here full-time during the busy season and her uncle Mike Fuyala runs the business year-round, providing landscaped trees and Christmas tree deliveries, plus disposal services Auckland-wide, from Bombay to Omaha.
Reflects Francesca, “It’s a great way for our whole family to be brought together. And I know how happy it makes my grandma knowing her dad bought this, and that his great-grandchildren are using it to this day and helping out in the business.”
Looking ahead to the future generations
Looking to the future, Francesca is certain the family legacy will endure.
“I can see this continuing on way in the future down through the generations,” she shares, imagining her own grandchildren taking over one day.
“That’s my grandma’s hope too, for the farm to stay in the family and keep spreading joy to other families around Auckland.”
To pick your own tree, visit misachristmastrees.co.nz
