15 Fabulous Christmas Trees

From December 2011

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

The tradition of lighting the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
in New York began in 1933.
These days, the lighting ceremony is an NBC-TV special
that makes the tree a worldwide celebrity.
The 74-foot-tall Norway spruce was illuminated by 30,000 lights 

during a ceremony that featured performances by Neil Diamond,
Cee Lo Green and Carole King.
The tree is decorated with five miles of lights,
which will be on until Jan. 7.
After that, it will be turned into lumber
for the housing charity Habitat for Humanity.

 Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro boasts a Christmas tree

that made it into Guinness World Records. 

The largest floating Christmas tree is more than 278 feet tall 

and was erected in Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. 

Construction on this year's artificial tree began in September. 

It requires 1,200 people to assemble it and take it down. 

It will be lit up with 3.3 million micro-lamps 

and 2,100 strobe lights every evening until Jan. 6.

National Christmas Tree, Washington, D.C. 

If you wanted to attend this year’s National Christmas Tree Lighting

in Washington, D.C., you would have had to get lucky. 

An online lottery doled out tickets to only 17,000 people. 

President Barack Obama and his family lit the 26-foot tree 

in front of the White House on Dec. 1, 

accompanied by celebrities such as TV and radio personality 

Carson Daly and musical performer will.i.am. 

Dortmund, Germany

This tree is 45 meters tall (how many feet is that?) and towers over

the Christmas market in Dortmund, Germany. 

Look closely and you’ll see that it’s made of 17,000 individual spruce trees 

illuminated with 40,000 LED lights and 20 large candles. 

Branson, Mo. 

Branson, Mo., boasts a tree like no other.

It is five stories tall, built of steel and LED 

lights, and plays Christmas carols. 

The tree was illuminated on Nov. 4 and will remain up at the 

Silver Dollar City theme park in Branson until Dec. 30. 

Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort in Scottsdale 

has a four-story Christmas tree with 65,000 LED 

lights that blink to 10 holiday songs. 

Visitors can check out the synchronized lighting 

and music show every evening from 6-9:30 p.m. 

The tree dazzles during the day, too, with hundreds 

of mirrored stars and a 5-foot tree topper.

San Francisco

 San Francisco’s 80-foot fir tree, a gift from Macy’s to the city, 
uses 21,000 LED lights to brighten up Union Square. 

This year’s lighting ceremony included a performance 

by figure skater Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. champion, 

two-time Olympian and world medalist.

Lansing, Mich.

Lansing illuminated its Christmas tree on Nov. 18, 

accompanied by an electric light parade 

and fireworks over the state capitol building.
This year’s beauty is 61 feet tall and was harvested from Houghton Lake, Mich.
It’s quite the sparkler, too, with 3,500 LED lights.

London

London’s St. Pancras International Station 

is home to a Christmas tree built entirely from Lego bricks. 

The tree, which took two months to build, features 600,000 Lego bricks 

and more than 1,000 Lego baubles.

Chicago

 The 55-foot Colorado spruce that Chicagoans lit up at Daley Plaza
the day before Thanksgiving has an auspicious past.
The Spangler family of Western Springs, Ill.,
decided the giant beauty in their yard was too close to their house,
so they entered their tree into Chicago’s annual tree contest.
Over the years, the Spanglers say the tree 

was used as a fort for the kids when they were younger,
a source of shade and a landmark for people trying to find their house.

Copperopolis, Calif.

In its day, Copperopolis produced 72 million pounds of copper, 

supplying the red-orange metal to make bullets for the Civil War. 

The town is also known as the place where Mark Twain wrote 

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” 

In another claim to fame, the town is a registered 

California historical landmark. 

Soak in the history and tip your hat to its 40-foot white fir,

which sparkles with more than 1,000 lights.

Coeur d'Alene Resort

Coeur d’Alene Resort in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 

has an impressively tall living Christmas tree, 

a grand fir decorated with more than 30,000 LED lights. 

At 161 feet, it rises to more than twice the height of New York’s 

famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. 

The tree is the focal point of the resort’s annual on-the-water light 

show featuring more than 1.5 million lights.

Aspen, Colo. 

The historic Sardy House in Aspen was built in 1892 

by J.W. (three-fingered Jack) Atkinson, vice president of the 

Little Annie Mining Company and former Pitkin County sheriff.

Operated as a bed and breakfast since 1986, 

the building is under new ownership this year. 

John and Selene Devaney are pulling out all the stops 

with their landmark living Christmas tree. 

This year’s lighting ceremony upgrades the light bulbs to LED nodes 

and triples the number of lights from 3,000 to 10,000. 

The many-colored lights can create animations 

such as cascading rainbows and fireworks.

 Portland, Ore.

Portland lit its Christmas tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square on Nov. 27, 

accompanied by the city’s own Pink Martini band 

and members of the Oregon Symphony and Pacific Youth Choir. 

The 75-foot-tall Douglas fir was donated by Stimson Lumber Co. 

and grown on sustainable forest lands near Gaston, Ore. 

This year, the tree has 14,000 new LED lights.

The Plaza Hotel, New York

The Plaza Hotel in New York City has unveiled a new 18-foot artificial tree

that is the centerpiece of its Fifth Avenue foyer. 

The Betsey Johnson-designed, Eloise-themed Christmas tree 

is inspired by the precocious heroine of 

Kay Thompson’s 1955 classic book, "Eloise."