Christmas trees from around the world...

As we put the finishing touches on our own Christmas preparations, I thought a peek at some international Christmas trees of 2008 would be fun. (Photos are from the NY Daily News site.)


Starting with our own National Christmas tree...

© Getty Images

The National Christmas Tree is a living tree located on the Ellipse near the White House. It is decorated and lit as part of a three-week holiday celebration. The design is unique each year.

Credits: Duenas/Getty
Bolivar square in Bogota, Columbia.

Credits: Omar/AP

Workers lower a star atop a giant Christmas tree near the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in Beirut, Lebanon.

Credits: Malukas/Getty

Illumination in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Credits: Grant/AP

London's tree in Trafalgar Square is a gift from Norway, a tradition dating back to 1947.

Credits: Kostyukov/Getty

Some trees have been the backdrops for more political activities. In Moscow, the members of the Russian Communist party hold a rally to commemorate the date the Soviet or "Stalin" constitution of the Soviet Union was adopted in 1936.

Credits: Directo/Getty

Workers build a giant tree in the northern Philippines, where the Christmas season begins on December 16 with dawn masses and ends on the first week of January.

Credits: Cizek/Getty

Prague's tree sits in front of the Tyn Church at the Old Town Square.

Credits: Coffrini/Getty

The Swiss light their tree in Zurich in style.

Credits: DeCrow/AP

New York City's Rockefeller Center Christmas during the tree lighting ceremony.

Credits: Wong/Getty
The official White House Christmas tree stands in the Blue Room.

The official White House Christmas Tree is an 18 ½-foot tall Fraser fir presented by River Ridge Tree Farms in Crumpler, North Carolina. The tree is decorated with 369 ornaments hand-decorated by artists from around the country. Each ornament was specially designed to characterize the unique, patriotic spirit of the artist’s state, district, or territory.

Spring prettiness...

A couple of pictures for Debi, who always leaves such nice comments and left the nicest one about our yard yesterday - thanks! :)

(click on photos for a better look-see)

Lew took these late yesterday afternoon and I just love how they capture the beauty of Spring in our little corner of Maryland.

I'm enjoying the healthy growth and green as much as I can now, 'cause come July, we'll be fighting the heat to keep things from turning brown.

Quirks of nature...

Check out the neat surprise we discovered this evening...

... we have a white dogwood growing in among our lilacs. The surprise part is that we never planted a white dogwood! Isn't nature cool?? I talked about it a bit on my Project 365 photo blog too.