Twenty eight years ago, it began when the Betts family moved to Dale City.
It started in a townhouse on Beale Court and moved to a bigger house on Dale Boulevard. Every Thanksgiving was spent having turkey dinner and untangling Christmas tree lights,
pulling out boxes and moving yard ornaments. It always seemed to be the coldest night of the year when the Christmas tree in the front yard turned from ordinary to extraordinary,
and once the tree was done the rest of the yard could transform.
Every year the display would get bigger. Every year more people would come to see it. That house became known as “The Christmas House on Dale Boulevard.” Many memories —
tour buses and daycares would plan holiday outings waiting for the display to go up, ornament donations for the bog tree, Christmas cards from families making that house a part of
their Christmas tradition, the Hillendale Fire Department playing their part one year with the tree, a little girl and her mom having one more year for the magic of Christmas believing
in Santa Claus, the hours upon hours spent hand making and painting all the wooden ornaments that went in the display, and my now 13-year-old daughter carrying baby Jesus
when she was two with her binky in her mouth because she wanted to “help.”
I was lucky and grew up in the “Christmas House” where the magic came alive for me every year.
The reason a Dale City tradition has come to a close? The house is up for sale. My parents have realized a dream of theirs to move “back home” to Pennsylvania. We joke that the
display had become such an icon it would have to convey with the sale of the house. But it, too, has moved to Pennsylvania.
My parents and I would like to say thank you to everyone who has ever played a part in setting things up, taking things down or even just stopping by to say “job well done.” The
look in every child’s face the first time they saw the lights made all the preparations and hard work worthwhile. They are the reason the display kept going up year after year. Please
be blessed this holiday season and never forget the magic of believing.
Merry Christmas!
TRACY MARTINEZ
Stafford
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