Christmas Trees

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- They walked to Sandy Hook in twos and threes, some with children in strollers or infants bundled against the chill and fog. Some had teddy bears tucked under their arms. Others held bouquets of fresh flowers, Christmas wreaths with red ribbon, balloons in pink and blue and white. They came to leave gifts and cards and candles at a roadside shrine near Sandy Hook Elementary School on Sunday night. Police cars blocked the road to the school, and traffic was backed up even farther.

How much would it cost to end homelessness in the United States? About as much as we spend on Christmas decorations every year. According to the latest report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the national homeless population held pretty much steady from 2011 to 2012, which is good or bad, depending on how you look at it. What's needed to turn things around, says Mark Johnston, acting assistant housing secretary for community...

Click here to download TV listings for the week Dec. 2 - 8 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     SERIES My Crazy Obsession: This new episode features a woman who has more than 120 fully decorated Christmas trees, a man whose goal is to cover his property in 1 million lights, a couple with a houseful of nutcrackers and snowmen and a couple obsessed with holiday inflatables (9 p.m. TLC). SPECIALS 100 Greatest Kid Stars:  The countdown continues (9 p.m. VH1)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, that warm and fuzzy time of year when adults engage in public verbal brawls over whether to call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree. Rhode Island's governor, Lincoln Chafee, got so fed up with the debate after an uproar at last year's state Christmas tree - er, holiday tree - lighting, that this year, he gave only 30 minutes' notice before flicking the lights on the towering fir in the Statehouse rotunda. The idea was to prevent protesters from crashing the party, as they did last year when a group angry over Chafee's dubbing the tree a “holiday tree” crowded the annual tree-lighting event.

WASHINGTON -- “Joy to All” is the theme of the Obamas' fourth Christmas in the White House, which threw open its festive, fir-draped doors today to the first guests of the season:  U.S. troops and their children. Fifty-four live Christmas trees lend color and sparkle to the executive mansion. The largest of the trees is an 18-foot-6-inch Fraser fir from North Carolina that is festooned with ornaments crafted by children on U.S. military bases around the world. Amid the greenery and garlands, another highlight: a gingerbread house, weighing almost 300 pounds, featuring lighted chandeliers and a replica of First Lady Michelle Obama's garden.

WASHINGTON -- The official White House Christmas tree arrived Friday morning from a prize-winning farm in the North Carolina mountains. The tree -- a 19-foot tall Fraser fir from Peak Farms in Ashe County -- arrived at the North Portico of the White House by horse-drawn carriage. First Lady Michelle Obama, along with daughters Malia and Sasha and their dog Bo, were there to receive it. Growers Rusty and Beau Estes were also at the White House for the tree's arrival. "I think we'll take it!"

The first Christmas news release of the year has crossed our desks here at Nation Now -- and it was almost enough to make us reach for the Halloween candy already clogging the supermarket aisles and have a good cry. The Outlets at Anthem , which bills itself as an upscale factory outlet in Phoenix, announced that it's kicking off the nation's holiday season by hosting America's tallest fresh-cut Christmas tree, soaring to 110 feet. The kicker? The unveiling will take place Oct. 25. That's almost a week before Halloween.

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.

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.