(From DCist contributor Amadie Hart)

Christmas tree lots, nurseries, and farms all around the area were buzzing yesterday with shoppers looking for just the right piece of greenery to festoon with lights and ornaments. The holiday season is here, and area residents are rushing out to make sure they aren’t left with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Whether you cut your own tree, adopt a live tree, or drag it home from the corner tree lot (as a formerly car-less DCist not-so-fondly remembers doing a number of years ago), the trick is how to keep it happy and healthy for the next three weeks; not an easy thing to do with heated dry indoor air, overexcited household pets, and curious small children. The National Christmas Tree Association provides a number of tips to help consumers care for their trees.

If playing host to an evergreen is not part of your holiday plans, you can still appreciate the fruits of other peoples’ labors by taking a stroll through your neighborhood or visiting one of the many holiday light displays. If you would like some history with your decorations, this coming weekend is the last chance to take part in the annual Mount Vernon candlelight tour, where guests also can partake of cookies and hot cider around a campfire.

And finally, full of cookies and cider and holiday cheer, you can get a head start in both working off those holiday pounds and putting them back on. Rudolph’s Red Nose Run 10K in Fairfax offers a challenging course, still more cookies, hot chocolate, mulled cider, and – you guessed it – a roaring bonfire.

>> See DCist on holiday activities on the Mall, a Norwegian Christmas at Union Station, and Ask DCist on the National Christmas Tree.