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From the
largest living decorated Christmas tree in
the U.S. in Ferndale, to the largest cut
Christmas tree in the nation in Newport
Beach, California lives superlatives during
the holiday season. We Californians
celebrate the holidays in a big way, in
fact. The trend in trees is a theory called
"lessening your footprint." What it means is
that particular practices are being used in
finding trees for public places (trees cut
come from cultivated forests areas), and the
lights are now politically more correct if
they are LED, requiring less energy to use.
The California State Capitol goes one
further by using an energy cell to power the
tree's lights throughout the season.
Not every
tree is real...we went around the state and
observed many trees are fake. That's
great! While the smell of pine is refreshing
in the Southern California sun, it often
doesn't last because of the annual Santa
Winds that occur usually once during a
winter holiday season. And we observed that
even the tallest cut tree (Fashion Island in
Newport Beach), uses a real tree base but
shaves off the real limbs for transport,
then assembles the standing tree trunk and
live top, building a tree with wire,
artificial limbs, etc. The result is that
most can't even tell the difference.
One tree
that's as real as they come stands at the
end of the Main Street in Ferndale.
Declaring it the tallest living tree for a
holiday lighting in the U.S., it sits at the
base of a stand of tall trees, and is
surrounded by redwood forests of Humboldt
County. These forests do contain some of the
largest, living trees on earth. Seeing
Ferndale's tree lighting and lit tractor
parade is something crazy and unique. It
does rain quite a bit, so you can just count
on rain and if it doesn't well that's great,
too.
If trees
are your thing and you don't have time to
drive through the oldest living redwood
forests in the world in Northern California,
then partake of the urban life with
decorated trees, carols, Santas, and the
sounds of Christmas.
The
oldest Christmas tree lane is in Altadena,
and it is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places. A bay of trees can be
seen in Naples Bay in Long Beach. Universal
Studios lights up the nights of Hollywood
with its lit palms. And Fillmore Street in
San Francisco uses cool, energy-efficient
blue bulbs to decorate its trees and palms
that bring the shopping district to life.
If for no
other reason than to enjoy the season, go
check out the perfect selection of
California Christmas trees located at a mall
or town square near you.
About
picking a California Christmas tree.
Here are some tips from our annual
search for a Douglas fir tree.
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