{"id":65979,"date":"2025-12-09T19:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/65979\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T19:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:44:09","slug":"doc-spotlights-unsung-christmas-tree-vendors-of-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/65979\/","title":{"rendered":"Doc spotlights unsung Christmas tree vendors of NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Leah MarieAnn Klett<\/a>, Assistant Editor Tuesday, December 09, 2025\"Twitter\"<\/a>\"MerchantsMerchants of Joy | Prime Video<\/p>\n

For years, filmmaker Celia Aniskovich walked past the sidewalk Christmas tree stands that appear overnight across Manhattan each December without giving them much thought.<\/p>\n

Like many New Yorkers, she accepted the magical transformation: one day empty corners, the next filled with Christmas trees, as just another seasonal inevitability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until a 2022 Epic Magazine feature titled \u201cSecrets of the Tree Trade\u201d crossed her path, forwarded by her mother, that her curiosity about who, exactly, was behind the evergreens was stirred.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople kept telling me, \u2018This is so you; it\u2019s New York, it\u2019s Christmas, it\u2019s a look behind the curtain,\u2019\u201d Aniskovich told The Christian Post. \u201cI tell a lot of stories that are hiding in plain sight, and suddenly I found one right in my backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

That article ultimately inspired \u201cThe Merchants of Joy,\u201d<\/a> her documentary now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, which follows a small group of families who dominate New York City\u2019s Christmas tree business \u2014 street vendors whose entire annual income depends on roughly 15 days of sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas.<\/p>\n

Aniskovich\u2019s background in storytelling comes through an unusual academic path. She studied philosophy and theology at Fordham University, earning a concentration in American Catholic studies before pursuing filmmaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople always ask how you go from theology to film,\u201d she said. \u201cBut to me, theology is also the study of stories, why we tell them and how they bring people together and build community.\u201d<\/p>\n

That perspective shaped her approach to \u201cThe Merchants of Joy.\u201d Though the subject seems niche, Aniskovich said the story quickly revealed universal themes of community, sacrifice, resilience and faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsking someone to share their personal story is an enormous ask,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether it’s a story of hardship, joy, faith or struggle, I take that responsibility very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those commitments are evident in the film\u2019s intimate portrayal of vendors, including Gregory Walsh (\u201cBig Greg\u201d) and his son, George Schmidt, Heather Neville of NYC Tree Lady, and Vermont growers Jane Waterman, George Nash, and their daughter Ciree, competitors who jokingly label themselves \u201cfrenemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the trees in New York are sold by this small circle of people,\u201d Aniskovich said. \u201cOn the one hand, they\u2019re competitors, the only other people in the game. But if you run out of trees or wreaths, who are you going to call? Them. Community means a lot of things; there\u2019s the family you\u2019re born into, and then there\u2019s the family you build and the people you choose. For these vendors, community and tradition are everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The filmmaker stressed that their relationships offer a counterpoint to the wider social divisions present in American culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when we\u2019re more polarized than ever, they\u2019re a reminder that we can still find common ground,\u201d she said. \u201cOur best Christmas memories are never alone; they\u2019re always with others.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recurring presence in the film is Kevin Hammer, an unseen competitor whose bidding tactics drive a wedge between vendors and spark tensions onscreen. Hammer declined to appear on camera but agreed to phone interviews, making him a near-mythical presence in the documentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the characters calls him the \u2018Kaiser S\u00f6ze of Christmas,\u2019\u201d Aniskovich said. \u201cBut I like to think about him more as the Grinch. \u2026 His last line in the film is, \u2018I don\u2019t like New York City. I love New York City.\u2019 I found a lot of heart in him. Even the bah-humbug people in our lives usually carry their own traditions and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film also navigates a delicate balance between the commercialization of Christmas and the humanity that persists beneath it. In a city known for chaotic holiday crowds and relentless selling, Aniskovich said she initially braced for cynicism.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpending every day on the streets from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I thought it might wear me down,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what happened instead restored my faith in humanity and in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we want the picture-perfect Hallmark Christmas,\u201d she added. \u201cBut what we really want is our own traditions, our imperfect families, the weird foods no one eats but still have to be on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the film\u2019s most moving moments centers on Neville, a former addict with a criminal past, who discovers a homeless man sleeping in her shed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were rolling when she found him,\u201d Aniskovich said. \u201cI was nervous, honestly. I didn\u2019t know what would happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Neville approached the man with compassion.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sat down and told him, \u2018You are worthy. You are loved. You deserve a home,\u2019\u201d Aniskovich said. \u201cAnd then, after that, she stood up and went right back to work. \u2026 These people are working-class Americans doing a brutally hard job. But they still take time to care about the people around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary also grapples with heavy moments. During production, Gregory Walsh received the cancer diagnosis documented near the end of the movie, a moment captured just days into filming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew through the whole journey,\u201d she said. \u201cBut he ended up getting an extra year-and-a-half, a Christmas miracle. He passed away earlier this year. He loved to say that \u2018anyone can be Santa Claus any day we choose.\u2019 I try to live more like that now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since completing the documentary, Aniskovich said she can no longer walk past a tree stand without thinking about the cost behind the cheer. Christmas tree sellers, she stressed, see their work as a vocation and, in some cases, a calling from God. Vendors often remain on the streets through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, missing family celebrations to serve holiday customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have about 15 days to make their living for the entire year,\u201d she said. \u201cThey stand out there rain or snow, and they sacrifice something most people forget about, their own Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through \u201cThe Merchants of Joy,\u201d Aniskovich said she hopes viewers are encouraged to slow down during the Christmas season and rediscover the humanity behind the holiday. It\u2019s the acts of compassion, she emphasized, that make the celebration possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t go home so the rest of us can celebrate,\u201d she said. \u201cThey give up their Christmas to bring Christmas to everyone else. At its heart, it\u2019s about people choosing compassion and community in everyday work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Merchants of Joy\u201d is now streaming on Amazon Prime.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com<\/a><\/p>\n