Christmas Trees

Steve Bowdoin can't hide presents under the teddy-bear cholla cactuses, at least not without getting pricked. He can't hang bulbs on the golden barrels or top the agave plants with stars. The 32-foot-tall saguaro cactus nicknamed "Grandpa" is magnificent, but it can't anchor a family room on Christmas morning. That's OK. Unlike the pines and Douglas firs bedecking most casinos and malls here -- including a 109-foot wonder that's among the nation's tallest -- Bowdoin's holiday display actually embraces the arid Mojave: three acres with 300 species of desert plants wrapped in half a million twinkling lights.

Christmas Eve Vy,11 Travis Ranch Middle School Yorba Linda In the village of Snowy Lake, cottages look like Christmas trees, strung with long colorful lights. Children sleep peacefully dreaming about beribboned boxes hiding presents. A faint sound of bells echoes across the sky and a merry laugh choruses through Snowy Lake. With a brown sack slung over his shoulder, a jolly man in red slides down chimneys, his warm amber eyes glimmering with joy. He reaches in the bag and pulls out small presents wrapped with beautiful red paper that says, 'Merry Christmas, from Santa to Snowy Lake.' With a snap of his fingers the man vanishes in a flash of sparks, and all that's left of him is his joyful laugh and the jingling of the bells on the reindeer.

The first shots in this year's War over Christmas have officially been fired. Just like TV retail store ads and decorative Starbucks cups, the battle, which typically involves some real or perceived slight toward the holiday, seems to arrive earlier every year. This season, so far at least, the front concerns a so-called 15-cent “Christmas tree tax” put in place by the Department of Agriculture to help promote the sale of living, needle-dropping trees instead of the plastic ones you keep in your basement all year.

A Toluca Lake home still referred to as the Bing Crosby Estate despite a succession of other entertainment industry owners has sold for $4.02 million. The singer and actor lived on the property from 1936 until early January 1943, when the 20-room house there was gutted in a Christmas tree fire, according to Times archives. Crosby was out at the time of the fire. His wife, Dixie Lee , and their four sons escaped injury. The damage to the structure and its contents was estimated at $200,000, and the family's cocker spaniel, a complete collection of Crosby's recordings, his golf trophies and his pipe collection were lost.

In light of concern for global warming and deforestation, perhaps it's time for us to take another look at our tradition of cutting down a pine tree, putting it in our living rooms for two weeks and then throwing it out. BILL LAURITZEN, Los Angeles

Icy gusts streaked up the Brooklyn street, where at 2 a.m. the only sound was the "knock knock" of Toby Bishop pounding Christmas trees into plastic bases. A group of young revelers headed toward the tree stand, a pine-scented maze along an urban sidewalk with white Christmas lights dancing in the wind. Toby watched as they approached a towering fir. A late-night sale in the making? No, just another group of drunks out for the night. They circled the giant tree, joined their hands to give it a big hug, and then moved on, leaving Toby to shake his head in wonder.

Rancho Palos Verdes residents who want to have their Christmas trees recycled into mulch can bring the undecorated trees (no tinsel and no flocked trees) to City Hall from Dec. 28 through Jan. 6. They should put the trees into a marked bin at the City Hall parking lot at 30940 Hawthorne Blvd. Most of the mulch will be used in public areas of the city. Residents who want some for their own yards should call the city Public Works Department at 541-6500.

Unusually cold weather and snowstorms in Oregon and Washington caused temporary delays in the delivery of some Christmas trees to California, it was reported. Less than 10% of the 6.5 million trees grown in the two states for sale nationwide during the holiday season were affected, Wally Hunter of the Northwest Christmas Tree Assn. said, because growers were unable to harvest on schedule because of the weather. "There's not really a shortage," he said.

The Christmas tree remains a powerful symbol for many of us, a mandala of sorts, evoking emotions that can be traced through thousands of years of humankind and across many faiths. "Christmas trees probably add more to mark the period of 'peace on Earth, goodwill toward men' than any other product of the soil," says Ann Kirk-Davis, whose family has been raising and selling Christmas trees for generations.

To help reduce post-holiday waste, the Ventura County Solid Waste Management Department and the city of Fillmore are offering residents an opportunity to recycle their Christmas trees. If residents do not have a regular yard debris recycling program, trees can be dropped off at three sites: the Ojai Valley Recycling Center at Old Baldwin Road from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; the Simi Valley Landfill at 2801 Madera Road from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.

Reporting from Los Gatos, Calif. -- Behold the typical Christmas tree: A faux fir fashioned from metal and plastic with that special dragged-from-the-attic scent. Or maybe it's bound like a hostage and plucked from a pile in a parking lot, a soulless commodity masquerading as tradition. As an alternative, drive the switchbacks of California Highway 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains a few minutes west of San Jose, pull off and ascend twisty roads into a canopy of oaks, redwoods and evergreens so thick you'll need to flip on the lights.

Unto Santa Monica a Christmas controversy was born this year. Atheists objected to the long-standing tradition of re-creating the Nativity story in a row of life-size paintings that sprawl down the Ocean Avenue edge of Palisades Park. Arguing that this was a religious display in a public park, they applied for space to offer their own message. In an effort to be fair, the city turned to a lottery to assign 21 plots of display space — and lo, the atheists won 18 spots. A Jewish group won a spot for a menorah.

"Grandma, in 13 days I'll be hanging up my stocking! I need to write my list for Santa before it's too late!" Grandma smiled and asked, "Before you do that, Jack, help me with this old tree of mine. " They set up the Christmas tree near the window where its lights could shine out into the night. Jack climbed up on a chair to put the Christmas angel up on the very top branch. Grandma said, "It's a shame that some of the branches have lost some of their artificial needles.

A horse-drawn wagon presented First Lady Michelle Obama with the 19-foot balsam fir tree that will be the official White House Christmas tree. The 18-year-old tree arrived Friday from a farm near Neshkoro, Wisc. Growers Tom and Sue Schroeder were at the White House for the arrival of the tree, which was harvested last week and shipped to Washington. The tree was hand-picked by the White House superintendent of grounds and an official with the National Park Service after the Schroeders won the National Christmas Tree Assn.'s National Christmas Tree contest in August.

The first shots in this year's War over Christmas have officially been fired. Just like TV retail store ads and decorative Starbucks cups, the battle, which typically involves some real or perceived slight toward the holiday, seems to arrive earlier every year. This season, so far at least, the front concerns a so-called 15-cent “Christmas tree tax” put in place by the Department of Agriculture to help promote the sale of living, needle-dropping trees instead of the plastic ones you keep in your basement all year.

Now that Halloween has passed, it's time to talk trees - Christmas trees. Not the little 6-footers sold in lots, but the rock star that will embark on a 20-day national tour and attract all eyes as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C. The tree this year comes from California's Stanislaus National Forest , where, at the moment, it's being carefully watched by two federal law enforcement officers. "It's a matter of national security, so it's guarded 24/7," says Maria Benech, a national forest employee with the title U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Coordinator.

Why are Christmas trees bad at knitting? They keep dropping their needles! Chris, 8 Palos Verdes Elementary Palos Verdes What do lions sing at Christmas? Jungle bells! Caroline Palos Verdes Elementary Palos Verdes