Christmas is such a festive time of year. I love to drive around and see all the lights on houses, trees and shrubs. Like most cities and towns around the world, Palm Springs has its own Christmas tree in front of city hall. It is a wonderful sight to see, with loads of tiny white lights from top to bottom, with a lovely lighted star at the very pinnacle. You'll notice in this photo that our tree has wires to brace it against any crazy winds that occasionally blow through the Coachella Valley. I believe the tree is just over 22 feet tall- almost as tall as the flagpole! At the tree lighting ceremony a few weeks ago, Santa Claus made an appearance to join in the fun, along with the Palm Springs high school choir. The lighting ceremony also featured free hot cocoa and cookies and horse drawn carriage rides too. These are the kinds of things that give a city a sense of community spirit and connectedness. For a brief moment in time, folks forgot who was Republican and who was Democrat. Who was white, black, Hispanic, straight, gay, young or old, super rich, wealthy or poor. Our Christmas tree is a unifying symbol in our wonderful community, of which I am quite proud.
above: The Palm Springs city hall Christmas tree went "green" this year, because it was decorated with LED (Light Emitting Diode) energy efficient lights. These lights use up to 90 percent less energy, so they are better than a normal city hall Christmas tree. I read somewhere that in California, there is some law going into effect in a year or two that will ban the sale of non-LED Christmas lights, to help the state consume less energy and go green. So Palm Springs is ahead of the trend. Does your city or town have green Christmas tree? If not, write to the Mayor and make the suggestion for next year! Oh- by the way, its getting close to Christmas, are you all ready?
-Rick Rockhill
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