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DEL.ICIO.USDo you need a quick winter break during the holidays?
The weather outside may be frightful, but winter festivals or tree-cutting trips are just delightful.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every December, I have to remind myself to stop and smell the greenery before the season rushes past. I love the simple sights and smells of the 12th month, but it’s too easy to get caught in a frenzy of Christmas engagements, holiday parties, school choral programs or children’s class celebrations. It doesn’t help that our tree is artificial, bought years ago so the wee ones could enjoy the lights for longer than the few days it takes a real tree to drop its needles in the Still house.
My uncle lives in Austria, where the Christmas tree (always real) is traditionally put up and decorated on Christmas Eve. I could probably keep a tree from dying between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning - and that’s about as long as I could promise.
So every year, we take a mini-trip in the middle of the madness to reflect on the season. It’s usually a day-trip or evening getaway. We look at a lights display, or head up into the mountains to fill our lungs with cold air and the smell of greenery in its natural state. Throw in some hot chocolate and peppermint candy, and we return to Atlanta refreshed and filled with winter spirit.
If we’re looking at lights, we often make the short drive to Lake Lanier Islands’ Magical Nights of Lights near Buford. Last year, we drove to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga. for their Fantasy in Lights celebration. Both are wonderful - and easy to get to. But there are many other places to find lights displays near Atlanta or further away. Huntsville’s (Ala.) Botanical Gardens are illuminated once again with its Galaxy of Lights show. Rock City has its Enchanted Garden of Lights atop Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tn., while Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville’s combined show literally lights up the Smoky Mountain Winterfest in these three Tennessee towns.
If you’re a “real tree” aficionado, you certainly don’t have to leave town to find a good Frasier fir. Tree lots and local tree farms are within easy reach for everyone in the metro area. But if you want to turn a simple tree acquisition into a holiday event, you might consider driving a little further for the North Carolina High Country’s Choose and Cut Festival. Nearby mountain hotels and inns feature “choose and cut” packages, where you indulge in the three C’s of winter festivities - cookies, cocoa and caroling - before you head out on your tree hunt. North Carolina, Georgia and other southern states have Christmas tree growers’ associations that list “choose and cut” tree farms if you’re interested in going on a tree-cutting journey.
What if you don’t need a tree or you aren’t that into lights? Perhaps you’re already planning to get out of town and you’re looking for festive things to do at your destination? There’s an abundance of other festivals each winter throughout the south, where you can share the warmth of the season - even if the weather outside is frightful.
How far will you journey for a Christmas tree? Do you ever make the trek to see the lights displays? What are some of your favorite places to go to get you in the spirit of the season? Or where do you go to take a breather during the holiday madness?
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By lovelyliz
December 10, 2008 9:05 AM | Link to this
Even though I have a bit of the inner mallrat in me, this time of year that’s the last place I want to end up. That we’re unindated with Christmas before Halloween makes it worse. Thank God for the internet. Instead of fighting traffic and the crowds going from place to place, I do almost all my shopping on-line from the peace and quiet of my home.
As for lights, by Thanksgiving the wonderment has well worn off. If it wasn’t for the post divorce sister and niece who live with me, I would happily settle for a nativity scene, an advent wreath and a table top tree.
A month of Christmas-specific cheer is about all I have in me and with everything starting earlier and earlier………….
By kel
December 10, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this
I agree. By the time the christmas season gets here I am ready for January. I want to enjoy the fall and Thanksgiving and then move into Christmas. I didn’t put my tree up until yesterday when I usually have it done the weekend after Thanksgiving. I’m just tired of it. I have no desire to sing carols, buy gifts no one wants, and look at lights that have been up since September! Even if I wanted to go out of town it’s impossible to get time off from my job this time of year! I have five years seniority and I work with people who have 27 years! Guess who gets to always take the holidays off! Not me!If I didn’t have children I would quit Christmas altogether.
By anonymous coward
December 10, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this
I never really understood the appeal of watching a once living thing slowly die in your living room draped with lights and ornaments. And the real sadness of walking the streets after christmas day or new years day only to see the poor dead trees thrown in the curb for the trash man or just thrown out back.
By Keith
December 10, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
Anonymous — I have always liked the idea of buying a live tree for the season, then planting it outside afterward. But I haven’t tried it yet. Given my poor gardening skills, I doubt it would survive long — indoors or out. Has anyone (with a green thumb) gone the live tree route vs. a cut tree?
Lovelyliz and Kel — Yes, I only have a few weeks of spirit in me too. I try to tune out any pre-Thanksgiving Christmas marketing so that I can enjoy each season at the proper time. I’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring the early November Christmas displays in shops. Once December hits, though, I’m on holiday event overload — which is why I like to take a small break to slow down a bit in the midst of the madness. We usually don’t have time or money for a big getaway in December, but a small (and inexpensive) diversion works wonders.