Bellamarie, yes the big lights are a memory from the 40's, my son does a tree outside for us also and he has always used them but boy they get hot, they would burn a house down, so this is a new invention for safety I guess, like those "old" bubble lights, retro stuff taking over a new generation. I love the large lights, not so much the bubble lights but it's like being a child again, except for the tinsel.
Barb, we don't burn the trunk in the fireplace, it would take a year to get the limbs off, not worth it, they throw it in the pond sometimes for the fish but normally just put it in the woods. I THINK. I will ask them this year how they dispose of it, they possibly burn it with other branches etc. from felled trees. I know I don't get to put tinsel on it.
To me it has no smell, that is like a fraser fur or balsam, which you can smell across the room. That's strange because of cedar lined closets, and chests as you say, and when cut in logs it does smell, and quite frankly if you're going to burn a log you want at least one cedar log in there, they pop and crackle. Snap crackle pop, they are a lot of fun.
It never occurred to me, till you asked, to try to figure out what kind of cedar it was, how interesting! It appears to be a native of South Carolina, the Eastern Red Cedar:
Height 40-60'
(Juniperus virginiana)
Characteristics: This is an evergreen tree with flat, scale-like needles. The bark is light reddish brown, often in peeling, papery strips.
Location: Look for these evergreen trees in old fields and along fence rows. They grow from dry uplands to wet soils of riverbanks and sandy soils near beaches.
Use: The aromatic wood is used for cedar chests, cabinetwork, and carvings. The wood is slow to decay so it is often used for fence posts. Cedar oil is used in medicine and perfumes. Cedars are sometimes selected as Christmas trees.
FUN TREE FACT: At one time, redcedar was the primary wood used to produce pencils. The juicy berries are consumed by many kinds of wildlife, including the cedar waxwing, named for this tree.
As pretty as that is, it's a deceptive photo, they really when wild look more irregular and fat, not so perfectly shaped.
For Christmas reading, in answer to your question, I like Christmas mysteries, the old ones. I tried the Challinor which people were raving about but it seemed to be awfully simplistic, which is surprising, as if it were written for young children, and I gave up on it: I'm not
that bad yet. I've gone back to Charlotte MacLeod's first one, Rest Ye Merry, which I don't think she ever equaled and it's a delight in reprint. Her mystery anthologies are good too. And there's a giant book of Christmas Mysteries, called The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, too bad it weighs 2 tons, and the print's small, but it's full of the old but good ones, and nice little bios of the writers. And every other year or so I like to pull back out Christmas Crimes at Puzzel (spelled correctly) Manor, by Simon Brett, when I have forgotten the solutions to the chapter puzzles and try again. Doesn't take me too long now to forget them. hahahaa.
I guess I just like wallowing in nostalgia at Christmas, but I need a little sour with the sweet, hence the mysteries. Ho ho ho.
