By Julie Reardon

Some purists don’t use Christmas lights at all, just greenery: live garlands, handmade wreaths and real trees decorated with red ribbon and often little else. Others consider the mid-century larger bulbs on a string “old school” and still others have never had a live tree.  From yards of greenery to laser light shows and giant inflatable Santas, trends and tastes change, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the kind of Christmas decorating and trees we prefer.

As age and space needs shrink and children grow up and leave the nest, many of us have gone to using artificial trees, even if in our younger days, we hated them.  Today’s artificial trees have come a long way and there are so many different types and styles that there’s something for every taste. We are putting up two little artificial trees this year, although not in November or even the first two weeks of December. Part of me cringes internally, remembering Mom’s scathing comments about fake trees when we were growing up. Nice people didn’t use those tawdry things; they put up real trees that the family went out and chose. A nice big ceiling height fresh one as late in the month as possible and it never went up before December 20^th. No artificial tree could make the house smell that nice.  We even had a few live ones with root balls way before tree hugging was fashionable, and those pretty pines now grace the front yards of two of the houses we lived in when I was a child.

Not until I was an adult did the cut-your-own Christmas tree farms get as popular as they are now. Of course, there weren’t any farms in Alexandria, but as I’ve lived in rural areas for the past several decades, I’ve had neighbors who farmed Christmas trees and I’ve even cut my own a few times.  There are some fabulous Christmas tree farms in the hunt country in both Loudoun and Fauquier counties, some even offer refreshments and all will net up the tree and help you tie it to your luggage rack. The Christmas tree farms mostly carry several different types of both short and long-needled trees, but if your heart is set on a particular type, it’s best to check first.

Cutting one from your own farm sounds more glamorous than it is.  It’s almost impossible to find a pretty variety of long or short needle pine tree suitably sized and even remotely Christmas tree shaped, other than cedar trees. Although cedar wood smells pleasant, the stubby prickly foliage sometimes smells distinctly like cat urine. But they are narrow, fit in small spaces and not everyone thinks they stink.  They also grow everywhere in Virginia.  The most memorable was a perfectly shaped beauty I spotted while out trail riding with friends on the farm where I lived at the time.

That perfect little tree was in a spot not accessible by a vehicle so we had the genius idea to saw it down and drag it back with one of the horses. Once felled, we tied a rope around it and attached the end to my saddle.  As there was still a lot of snow on the ground, I figured it would slide along easily. Piece of cake, right? It wasn’t that far to the barn, less than a mile. The young horse I was riding had only been ridden about a dozen times and although he was sensible for his age, the tree bumping along behind him must’ve seemed like a stalking mountain lion ready to pounce. Still, I was able to keep him to a nervous jog until we went down a hill and the prickly tree slammed into his back end. This was too much—he exploded into a bucking fit, dumping me and taking off. He didn’t get far, the rope caught on a tree and I was able to catch him. We walked the rest of the way home, my friends belly laughing as I dragged the tree and led the horse, who snorted and danced sideways still eyeing it in terror. That year I told people I actually liked the smell of cedar.

Some of the newer trends in Christmas lights are wonderful for decorating. Tiny little twinkling bulbs on a string where they all continue to work their magic even if one burns out can create magical holiday effects. But they do tangle horribly if not stored properly after the season.  And the newer artificial trees, life size and table top, come in such a wide variety that nearly anyone can find one they like. Plus, it’s so much easier to put them up. However, we’ll never have blow-up Santas and gaudy laser light shows festooning our home.  In fact, out here we don’t use lights at all, but then again, we are tucked in a wooded hollow far off the road with no one to see them but us. Merry Christmas to all!