The Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing dinner hasn't turned to leftovers yet, but Christmas trees already are arriving at Hawai'i docks, with the bulk of them coming this weekend.

About 150,000 Christmas conifers are arriving over the next two weeks, and a smaller shipment is coming in Dec. 6.

And despite a weakened economy that has left prognosticators staring at tea bags in search of consumer clues, entrepreneurs such as Richard Tajiri, owner of Christmas Hawaii, are hoping that consumers will open their wallets.

"We just started cutting trees," said Tajiri, whose tree stand is on the corner of Piikoi Street and Ala Moana Boulevard. "We have dropped our prices because the freight went down a little and the economy is not great."

For those consumers considering the green alternative, there's always Helemano Farms in Whitmore Village. There, a Christmas tree connoisseur has 12,000 Norfolk pine trees to choose from, said Aaron O'Brien, company president.

"So for people who don't want to kill a tree, then we're good," O'Brien said. "It's become a family event for our customers who come and select a tree and not go to the store."

O'Brien is hoping this is the year that he'll capture the 5 percent of the Christmas tree market he's been hoping for.

"We're producing oxygen and offer free tree recycling after the holiday," he said. "Hopefully, we'll have more people who are going green. There's no fuel used on our farm, just the gas to get here to pick up the tree."