Christmas tree? O she’s got Christmas trees!
Set one foot inside Paula Burba’s house and you turn into a child — whether you’re 5 or 75 years old.
It’s a forest of faux firs, each one covered in lights, ornaments and garland that reflect a different theme. There’s Ralphie in his pink bunny pajamas from “A Christmas Story,” the Bumble with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and trees featuring the baby Jesus, the manger and “Frozen” characters.
This year, Mrs. Burba set a new record — 113 Christmas trees. Since the day after Thanksgiving, visitors have come by the hundreds in groups of 15, 20, even 30 (she sometimes overbooks).
“Seniors are the best. It’s almost like they revert back to childhood,” says the 60-year-old who’s been Indiana County’s Christmas Tree Lady for more than 25 years.
And real children, well, they’re like a kid in a candy cane store.
“One little boy started jumping up and down, clapping his hands like he won a million bucks,” she says, laughing.
It all started with one tree in a trailer. The new Mrs. Burba convinced her husband Bill to cut down a 7-foot live tree that he said would never fit. He was right — and allergic — but she loved it anyway. She inherited the Christmas gene from her father, Walt Swaynos of Barnesboro, Cambria County.
“We always used to go overboard. ‘That’s enough already!’ my mother would say. ‘Who do you think you are, Santa?’ “’No, I’m his daughter!’” In the mid-1980s, Mr. Swaynos helped his daughter and son-in-law build this house, which has four bedrooms, 3½ baths, a great room, dining room, sitting room, kitchen, sun room and basement rec room. But he didn’t live to see their first Christmas in it, with four trees. “Then it sorta got out of hand.” Mrs. Burba started creating themed trees for a friend with cancer. “I wanted to make her laugh.” When other friends started asking
if they could come over, she realized she had a calling.
“People need this around Christmas,” she says.
With her calling came a gift — and the pursuit of perfection. She was shocked when she attended her first tree decorating contest: “They didn’t have enough ornaments!”
When she sees trees in stores or friends’ homes, Mrs. Burba wants to help. One had ornaments only on the edges of the branches and none tucked into the crevices. “I had to sit on my hands!” The Christmas Tree Lady has a process that begins with hundreds of plastic totes, each marked for a specific tree ranging in size from 2 to 9 feet. After putting on Christmas tunes — she’s partial to Johnny Mathis, Kelly Clarkson and sacred music when she does the religious trees in the basement — she shapes (assembles) the tree, laysout its ornamentsand envisions how it willlook. The lights go on first,then the topper and garland,which must be carefully strungat an angle so the tree is divided into equal sections. Finally,the ornaments.
Starting near the end of September, Mrs. Burba can shape and decorate about 10 trees a day.
“I get in that zone and I lose track of time,” she says, admitting that she’s sometimes late picking up her three grandchildren from school. “I started setting a timer.”
She insists on doing all the decorating herself but gets help with tours and other chores from her husband, son Scott and grandson Brandon Marsh. No tours are scheduled on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
For fun one year she counted the ornaments (16,983) and the individual lights on strings (30,950). Most are purchased at a steep discount after the holidays at retail stores or online. It all comes down and is packed away the first week in January so she can get back to work. (She does the books for her husband’s electrical business and is the borough secretary and treasurer.)
The work takes a toll on her body. Mrs. Burba broke her wrist several years ago when she fell off a ladder. She plans to downsize next year to “only” 70 or 80 trees, but she can’t imagine having only one.
“It brings joy to so many people. They count on it. I get teary-eyed when I think about quitting. I find God here.”