Oh, Christmas Tree

Dont'cha just love Christmas trees in public spaces? The Burlington area has some great specimens. One of the neat parts of my job is, like the Beach Boys, I get around. Here's my picks for the three top tree jobs:

1. Honorable Mention:  The St. Michael's tree located in the field in front of the observatory on Route 15. This is a gigantous, gorgeous tree decorated with splendor every year by our friends, the Purple Knights.

(My favorite line from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail": A troop of English knights confront a French guard soldier played by John Cleese sitting lookout atop a castle wall. Cleese looks down at them with a pure distillation of French disdain, and says, "You stupid English ka-nig-its - I will fart in your general direction, I will wave my private parts at your aunties.")

2. First Runner-up:  The Church Street Marketplace tree at the foot (head?) of Church Street. It too is ginormous, and this year it's features some violet lights, which you have to love. The year-round Marketplace trees are bedecked with zillions of little white lights, which seem to pay tribute to the Christmas tree itself.

3. First Place:  The Shelburne Village Green Christmas tree. This beauty is located on Route 7, at the intersection of the Mt. Philo Road. There's something about this tree, it's classic simplicity, that melts my heart. The night of this photograph it had recently snowed and, like James Taylor sang, the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting . . .