圣诞树装饰终极攻略

编辑:给力英语新闻 更新:2017年12月4日 作者:By RIMA SUQI

纳恩和她的爱犬马齐耶同他们家中15棵圣诞树中的2棵合影。

本周有报道说，纽约州的州长安德鲁·M·科莫(Andrew M. Cuomo)和女友桑德拉·李(Sandra Lee)在他们家中展示了八棵圣诞树。但他们还比不上弗吉尼亚州59岁的德洛丽丝·纳恩(Delores Nunn)。最近，纳恩为自己和身为退役陆军上校的丈夫詹姆斯(James)共同生活的房子装扮好了15棵精美的圣诞树。每棵圣诞树都根据一个主题装扮起来，其中包括修女树、旅行树、袜子猴树、沙滩树、红酒树和自然树等等。一棵以小狗为主题的圣诞树，被放在夫妻俩养的史宾格与贵宾混血狗马齐耶(Mazie)的餐具旁。“肯定还有人装扮了20棵圣诞树，但他们从中得到的乐趣一定不会比我多，”她对上个月采访过她的一位记者这样说。

尽管纳恩缺乏专业设计经验，但她的热情并没有被大家忽视。两年前，她曾帮白宫做过节日布置，当时的装饰是向海陆空三军致意。她说，那次经历是“我生命中的亮点。”（本次专访经过缩编。）

小狗主题的圣诞树，当然要放在马齐耶的食碗和水碗旁边啦。

你从小过圣诞节时就有很多圣诞树吗？

我从小在弗吉尼亚州的汉普顿市(Hampton)长大，我们家里只有一棵不起眼的圣诞树。我和吉姆（詹姆斯的昵称——译注）刚结婚的时候也只有一棵圣诞树。后来，我们开始旅行，在所到之处收集装饰品，于是，我们有了两棵圣诞树：一棵很规矩的放在客厅，另一棵挂满孩子们制作的东西，放在小书房里。

从2棵到15棵还是有很大差距的，这是怎么发生的呢？

15年前，我们在肯塔基州(Kentucky)的诺克斯堡(Fort Knox)驻扎下来。军官妻子俱乐部举办了一个假日家庭招待会活动。他们来问我们是否愿意加入，并轮流做东。我说当然愿意，然后就像疯了一样布置起来。我在购买装饰品上花了很多钱，以至于我采购的那家商店还专门帮我把东西送上了门。我想那一年我们装饰了八棵圣诞树吧。然后吉姆升了职，我们就搬了家，进而住进了更大的房子里。于是我就想，嗯，反正我们已经有那么多收藏品了，而且又有地方再放一棵圣诞树，那为什么不呢？

从什么时候开始按主题装扮圣诞树的？

我们有了两棵树之后，我就开始收集雪人，这就成了第三棵树。我们住在德国时逛遍了所有圣诞集市，他们有许多漂亮的装饰品，于是，又有了一棵树。我去波兰旅行了几次，开始收集波兰的陶瓷制品，这就是现在放在厨房里的那棵圣诞树。然后我想是因为有人给了我一些跟红酒相关的东西，而且我们也需要在餐厅里放点什么，于是又有了一棵圣诞树的灵感。我总是有很多时间来做这些事。

你一般从什么时候开始装扮圣诞树？有什么特别的顺序吗？

我通常从感恩节之后开始。今年最让我兴奋的是旅行树。那是新增的一棵，所以我先装扮了那棵，大概花了两、三天时间吧。厨房里的几棵树花的时间最长，大约有两周。我把树都装扮好，但肯定不会放在那儿就不管了。我会一直对它们修修这儿，改改那儿的。

现在会有人给你帮忙吗？

我喜欢自己动手。我是个控制欲很强的人。

你有多少件装饰品？

我从来没数过。可能1000件吧？

你对热衷装饰圣诞树的人有什么建议吗？

我会告诉那些想要装饰15棵树的人，立刻去寻求帮助吧。我的意思是，精神上的帮助，而不只是祈求有小精灵出现。但是说真的，如果你想用人造的圣诞树，这棵树必须是完全蓬松的，也就是说，你在组装这棵树的时候必须让每根树枝都张开。我去白宫的那次，他们让我用铁丝把装饰品挂到树上，而不是用挂钩或细绳，因为那样看起来更整齐划一。今年我的确是把每件装饰品都用铁丝挂上去的，看起来确实很紧凑。

你会在什么时候把这些东西收拾起来？

一些人出于宗教原因要一直把树放在那里。我只会放到埃维斯诞辰那天(Elvis's birthday)，也就是1月8号。

本文最初发表于2013年12月19日。
翻译：幽竹

Santa May Need a Map

This week it was reported that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, are displaying eight Christmas trees in their home. They’ve got nothing on Delores Nunn, who is 59 and lives in Yorktown, Va. Ms. Nunn recently finished decorating 15 artificial trees for the house she shares with her husband, James, a retired Army colonel. Each tree is trimmed according to a theme, including nuns, travel, sock monkeys, the beach, wine and nature. A small dog-themed tree sits near the food bowl of Mazie, the couple’s springer spaniel-poodle mix. “I’m sure there are people who do 20 trees, but they can’t get more enjoyment out of it than I do,” she told a reporter who visited last month.

Though Ms. Nunn lacks professional design experience, her enthusiasm has not gone unnoticed. She helped to decorate the White House for the holidays two years ago, when the décor paid tribute to the Armed Forces. That experience, she said, was “the highlight of my life.” (This interview has been edited and condensed.)

Did you grow up with multiple trees?

I grew up Hampton, Va., and we had one piddly tree. When Jim and I got married, we also had one tree. Then we started traveling and getting ornaments from wherever we were, so we’d have two trees: a formal tree in our living room and another one in the den with all the stuff our kids made.

It’s a long way from 2 to 15. How did that happen?

We were stationed at Fort Knox in Kentucky about 15 years ago. The officers’ wives’ club had a holiday open house, and they asked if we’d let our home be on the tour. I said, sure, and then went nuts decorating. I spent so much money on décor that the shop where I bought it sent over staff to help me. I think we did eight trees that year. Then as Jim got promoted, we moved and got bigger houses along the way, and I was like, well, we’ve got so many collections and there’s room for another tree, so why not?

When did the themes start?

We had the two trees, then I started collecting snowmen, and that became the third. When we were living in Germany, we’d go to all those Christmas markets, and they had so many gorgeous ornaments, so that became a tree. I traveled to Poland a few times and started collecting Polish pottery, which is now one of the trees in the kitchen. Then I think somebody gave me something wine-related, and we needed something in the dining room, so that inspired another tree. I had a lot of time on my hands.

When does the decorating start? Is there a specific order?

I usually start after Thanksgiving. This year I was excited about the travel tree. That’s a new one, so I did that first, and it took two or three days. The ones in the kitchen take the longest, about two weeks. I put them up, but of course I can’t leave them alone. I am constantly tweaking.

Does anyone help you now?

I like to do it myself. I have a control issue.

How many ornaments do you have?

I’ve never counted. Maybe 1,000?

What tips do you have for aspiring tree decorators?

I’d tell anyone who wants to do 15 trees to seek help immediately. I mean, mental help, not just elves. But seriously, if you’re using fake trees, the tree has to be perfectly fluffed, which means you have to fluff every individual branch as you assemble the tree. When I went to the White House, they told us to wire the ornaments to the tree, not use hooks or string, because it makes it look more uniform. This year I did wire every single one and it does look more put-together.

When does all this come down?

Some people have religious reasons for keeping the trees up. I just wait until Elvis’s birthday, which is Jan. 8.