Spectrum News 1 recently brought you to a tree farm just south of Rochester to see how farmers are coming together to help ensure military families have a Christmas tree this year. But what happens after those trees for troops are delivered?

As trees were cut and wrapped on Stokoe Farms just south of Rochester, families on Fort Drum eagerly awaited their arrival.

“It's just a special feeling," Suzanne Stokoe of Stokoe Farms said. "We're just so grateful that we can do something to give back to those who are serving our country."

Not having the whole family home for the holidays is an unfortunate reality that Major Geoff Carmichael knows far too well.

“It's hard being deployed away from the family," Carmichael said. "You know you're missing out on important days, important not just Christmas, but birthdays. And you're watching you come back. And they're they're a completely different people."

But unlike last year, this year, he will be home for Christmas. And he's looking to not only make it extra special.

“Usually it's the artificial tree. It's the one we can take with us everywhere,” Carmichael said, taking his real tree home. “It makes holidays like this so much more important to celebrate and appreciate and ensure that you're with your family,” he added. “You're not just in the room, but you're you're actually enjoying the experience."

“They're pretty resilient. I'd like to think, but it is hard on them,” Carmichael’s wife Camilla said of her kids when Geoff is away.

“It's different not having my dad around the holidays,” Geoff’s daughter Cara said.

“Who knows what's over the horizon," Geoff said. "But it's another chance to write another chapter in the Carmichael history book and and enjoy the actual reason for the season, which is service and goodwill and love of our fellow brothers and sisters."

“Most of these are, you know, pictures they sent me,” Dick Darling of Darling’s Tree Farm said.

It really is amazing to think a tree can have that kind of impact, but it does.

“Makes you feel good when you see that big smile,” Darling said.

Darling said he keeps a scrapbook of all the letters and photos he gets from soldiers who have received a tree.

"I've talked to soldiers that they've never had a Christmas tree," he said. “This is something new for them. And they're grinning from ear to ear. Everybody enjoys it."

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been corrected to reflect the correct spelling of Geoff Carmichael's name.