CHRISTMAS TREE

Before you take down the Christmas tree and toss it out, give it one more job this holiday season.

If you're traveling past Centra’s General Hospital in Lynchburg, be sure to look across the street, then look up.

The Fearless Girl sculpture wearing a mask stands next to a large Christmas Tree lit up displayed in front of the New York Stock Exchange on December 06, 2020 in New York City. Alexi Rosenfeld | Getty ImagesIt's not often that celebrity home-buying sprees give me insights into the stock market. However, when I read last Friday about Ellen DeGeneres' purchase of a $49 million house in Montecito, California, I realized that this behavior helped me understand the current exuberant state of the stock market. It was the example of how investors buy what they want, when they want it, at whatever price is necessary, that struck me as the defining character of this current stock market. I have written about the surge in retail trading, a major force behind this phenomenon, especially among people for whom stock trading seems to serve as a surrogate for unavailable leisure activities.

Shoppers wear face masks as they walk in Regent Street, ahead of the new Tier-4 restriction measures, in London, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Christmas gatherings cannot go ahead and non-essential shops must close in London and much of southern England as he imposed a new, higher level of coronavirus restrictions to curb rapidly spreading infections. “It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot proceed with Christmas as planned,” Johnson said. While London fared relatively well in controlling the virus throughout the fall, the city now has the highest infection rates in England. The move will largely scrap Christmas gatherings in line with the rules for southern England.

• As it turns out, the Christmas tree in the Homestead lobby today is not the first locally grown tree. That honor goes to Juanita and the late Burton Smith, of Carloover, who donated a 22-foot white spruce tree to the hotel for the Christmas 1991 holiday season. “We enjoyed giving it,” Mrs. Smith said, when she called to make the correction. All errors in fact brought to our attention will be quickly and gladly corrected. Clarifications will also be made as needed.

John Williams, left, and his dad Terry, right, both of Salem, carry a large Christmas Tree out of the field together at Tucker Tree Farm in Salem, Oregon, November 29, 2020. Alisha Jucevic | ReutersTree retailers are having a spirited season this year, as Americans staying closer to home due to the coronavirus pandemic are turning the holiday spirit up a notch. Christmas trees are helping paint a bit more optimistic narrative. "People are staying at home and getting a really big tree," Evercore analyst Ed Hyman said in a note. Indeed, each year Americans will buy between 25 million and 30 million real Christmas trees along with another 10 million to 20 million artificial ones, according to Statista.

Christmas time is a tradition that we’ve always had in our lives, and one of those traditions is collecting ornaments over the years.

“Anything in that 7-10 ft. range, and of course smaller, is what we’re looking for,” said Claytor Lake State Park assistant park manager Brody havens. Live Christmas trees dropped off at the Claytor Lake State Park marina through Jan. 23 will be sunk in designated areas on the lake to create habitats for fish. "When we sink the Christmas trees, the limbs will stay on and the needles will stay on for quite a while. He likes fishing at Claytor Lake as it is, but the trees definitely help make the pastime more enjoyable. The city of Danville offers curbside tree collection for residents or you can drop off your tree at the city’s mulch collection site.

It's the time of year when Christmas trees are normally being tossed to the curb, but in Reading, Pennsylvania, one tree has become immortal. It's not for the tree's beauty though. Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" for another look at the "World's ugliest Christmas tree."

The Christmas tree in the Georgia Capitol has some company this year. A six-foot-tall gay pride Festivus Pole with a shiny disco ball has been posted under the Capitol Dome. CBSN's Contessa Brewer has more.