STRINGTOWN, Pa. — It’s beginning to look a lot like ... well, anything but Christmas. At least, if you go by Sunday’s temperatures, which reached the upper 60s in some areas across the tri-state region.

Still, the unusually warm weather didn’t prevent families from shopping for their Christmas tree this post-Thanksgiving Day weekend. And to some, it felt like cheating.

“Last year, it was freezing cold, muddy,” said Ben Sivits of Frostburg while helping to choose his family’s holiday centerpiece at Pleasant Valley Tree Farm in Stringtown, two miles north of Ellerslie. It was his third straight year visiting the 60-acre tree farm.

Sivits was with his girlfriend, Karin Lewis of Cumberland, his parents and two brothers. Apart from the primary family Christmas tree, Sivits said he also was in the market for a fragile-looking “Charlie Brown” tree.

Tree farm co-owner Marlee Ulm said business at both the Bedford County location and the family’s second location off Interstate 68 in Garrett County is “going very well.”

“It’s surprisingly better than it was last year,” Ulm said. “People want the family experience” of cutting down a real Christmas tree. “People are getting closer to their families these days.”

Ulm said the warm weather didn’t seem to attract a larger number of customers and said there are those who prefer the warmer weather and others who favor the seasonal cold, snow and ice. Either way, the snack shop in Stringtown is prepared, Ulm said.

“We’re still selling hot chocolate today,” she said. “On days like this, there are couples just sitting by the pond and enjoying the beautiful day. They stick around a little bit longer. It’s just more pleasant on a nice day like this.”

Corey and Shawna Tharp certainly thought so. The couple from Fort Ashby, W.Va., brought their son Gavin, 5, and daughter Addison, 2, to the tree farm to choose a tall Douglas Fir — one of six types of trees available, including Canaan Valley Fir, Fraser Fir, Scotch Pine, Spruce and White Pine.

It’s the Tharp family’s fourth consecutive trip to Stringtown after Thanksgiving, predating the existence of young Addison. But now, both children enjoy heading outdoors on the annual adventure.

“It’s fun for the kids to pick out a tree,” Corey Tharp said.

The benefit for the parents, he said, is that they can view the tree as it will appear in their home instead of simply being wrapped up at a roadside stand.

Both locations of the Pleasant Valley Tree Farm are open for business Thursday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.