It's a scene that Norman Rockwell would insist he stop to paint. Snow-flocked evergreen lit by a low December sun.

"We have lots of beautiful trees," says Jim Murphy, owner of Murphy's Tree Farm in Runnells. "These are white pines."

A family trip to the Murphy Tree Farm has been a tradition since 1968.

"Usually the man is quite bored," Murphy laughs, "many times, the mom, especially on nice days wants to look at every tree on the farm, and poor old dad just plods along not really having a good time.

This is a huge weekend for tree farms, but this year, Mother Nature has struck a decisive blow.

Thanks to knee-deep snow and waist-high drifts, getting customers (or even tractors) to the trees is just too tough.

"Yeah, this would be pretty tough on a three-year-old, on someone that's about that tall."

So, even though Jim Murphy's been preparing all year for this weekend, he made a tough decision.

"Today I came up here and tried to plow this out," says Murphy, pointing to the wide row between balsams, "and after working all morning on the road and the area here I gave up and decided we'd treat the people better if we closed this weekend."

They'll reopen some time next week, but by then, most will have found a tree elsewhere. The Murphys say they'll be alright.

"I imagine it's just that many less sales when you have bad weather."

Fewer sales, but then, more trees for next year. And for one more weekend, a perfect view that can't be beat.