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Tiny Christmas Tree Just Might Save the World

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The flurry of small children mobbed the not-much-larger Christmas tree in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza, straining to hang homemade ornaments on any vacant real estate. Wayne Standerwick folded his arms and watched the chaotic scene with a satisfied look.

For Standerwick, the annual decorating of the Community Christmas Tree is the highlight of the year. It’s on his mind, even in summer when people don’t think of things like Christmas Trees.

“The gift is when people come by after the kids put on the ornaments,” said Standerwick, the organizer of the tree. “This is for everybody to put ornaments onto the tree. It puts smiles on peoples’ faces.”

This annual holiday ritual began in 1996; the subject was the bay leaf tree in the front yard of Standerwick’s Mission District apartment. One holiday season, it occurred to him the tree could benefit from some ornamentation. He flagged down a woman from a local Head Start program who happened to be walking by with a group of kids. He persuaded them to return to decorate the tree.

Source: NBC Bay Area