Fir traders

By LISA L. KIRCHNER

The crowds of out-of-towners who clog Midtown streets each December are as reliable a part of the holiday season as “Jingle Bells.” But every year there’s one invader that plants itself on New York City’s sidewalks and brings pedestrians to a standstill, yet no one seems to mind.

They’re the hundreds of Christmas tree vendors who work around the clock from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, many of whom descend on the city from Vermont, Canada or other points north, for one marathon month of sidewalk selling.

It takes a hardy breed to spend 30 straight days sleeping in a car, eating from cartons, working through cold, rain and snow and coping with tree thieves and whatever other surprises the streets of New York City might offer. We checked in with a few to get the lowdown on working the city’s most offbeat seasonal job. [Read the rest with the New York Post.]