The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Marc and I live in an area of Huntsville that requires us to drive up and down Cecil Ashburn Drive several times a week. (Marc goes that way to work, so he actually crosses the mountain twice a day...) The views are breathtaking, and you could really say the traffic is too. People drive like crazy up there, myself included.

Each year, we look forward to seeing the many trees decorated for Christmas. A few years ago, this tradition started with a few trees, I'd say less than 20. Marc and I even decorated one ourselves. Then, the tradition grew to more and more trees each year. Let's see, there's been your average Christmas decorations, an Auburn tree, an Alabama tree, an underwear tree, a CD tree, a blue wine bottle tree, a beer can tree...You get the picture. People get pretty creative with their decorations. It's all in fun, and it makes the drive across the mountain much more pleasant. Heck, there are even a few trees already decorated this year. Which in turn prompted this article in today's Huntsville Times:

Displays illegal, city says; trimmers are sad

"O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

"How lovely are your branches!"

Unless those branches are along Cecil Ashburn Drive, in which case they're illegal.

So says City Hall this week as it tries to nip Huntsville's newest holiday tradition: decorating wild trees alongside the mountain road that winds between Jones Valley and the Big Cove area.

Two trees have already been trimmed in the spontaneous display that has grown from a few trees in 2005 to more than 400 last year.

The trees, which can be elaborately turned out or simply topped with a 12-pack of empty beer cans, have delighted and angered motorists from the start.

They've been allowed, banned and winked at by local government, and now it's new Mayor Tommy Battle's turn.

"The tree displays on Cecil Ashburn Drive are technically illegal and are considered littering," said a prepared statement issued Tuesday by Joy McKee, the city's director of landscape management and Operation Green Team.

"The pull-off area is for emergency use only and is meant specifically for that purpose," the statement continued. "The city hopes its citizens will respect the law when it comes to this matter.

"I'm sad to hear that," said resident Kathy Ludwig of Huntsville, "but if they say it's illegal, I'm not going to do it."

"It's sad," agreed Cookie Keller, repeating the public's reaction of the day: "sad."

City officials declined to elaborate. Trent Willis, chief of staff and communications for Battle, said the city would have no further comment.

The tree issue went toxic last year when the city faced cleaning up all that blowing and drooping tinsel. The city said then if its crews had to clean up, the practice would be banned this year.

Garden clubs and other volunteers hit the roadside and cleaned up the trees. All of the trees. They hoped that spruce-up would keep the tradition legal, but it didn't.

"My kids did it with their car pools," Ludwig said. "They had already picked out their tree this year."

"My grandchildren loved it," Keller said. "They would say, 'There's our tree.' "

Keller's husband actually took a weed whacker out to trim grass around trees so they'd be more visible. Oops, she said Tuesday. Guess he shouldn't have done that.

Keller understands the goal here. City officials "don't want people hurt."

She knows some people didn't like the displays, either. One man stopped last year and yelled so strongly she was actually scared, Keller said.

"You're breaking the law and it's all trash," he said.

But it made children happy, Keller said, and it brought families together. People would claim their trees with Santa hats and think long and hard about their themes.

"Anything that brings a smile to somebody's face makes life worthwhile," Keller said. "What sad people that can't enjoy something for a month."

Of course, just because she and Ludwig will follow the law, Keller admitted, that doesn't mean everyone will. She was one of several people contacted Tuesday who mentioned that two trees are already decorated.

"There's people that are going to do it no matter what," Keller said.

While I understand the city's need to control litter and avoid dangerous traffic situations, I just don't get why our city leaders felt the need to become the Grinch. Each year, people have cleaned up their messes. I have never, I repeat never, seen a city crew up on the mountain cleaning debris. What I have witnessed is families, young and old, gathered around trees decorating them with their cars pulled off the road into safe areas. There's even a hikers' parking lot up there for goodness sake. And traffic certainly drives slower, because everyone is trying to check out all the neat trees. I just don't get it.

I hope everyone turns out in masses this year to decorate trees. I don't care if they have to sneak around and do it at night or if they do it in broad daylight. I just want to see a mountain-full of Christmas trees, just like always!  It's a tradition, and it's one the Grinch just can't steal from us!

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."

"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"