The open valley turns to a forest of tall fir trees, many hung with moss.

BBC: Hiking the Alpine Walserweg trail

Her float was transformed into a snowy scene, complete with fir trees and a log cabin from which she waved at well-wishers, many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with her photo.

CNN: Dolly Parton: 'I know I'm a bit over-exaggerated'

It was a damp day and, after he had parked the van and set off down the forest track, even the noise of the Edinburgh-Glasgow motorway was muffled by thick, dark fir trees.

ECONOMIST: Robert Taylor

There were darker areas on it that might have been portholes, but the strangest thing was that the dome would be solid one moment, transparent the next, so that Mr Taylor could see the fir trees through it, as if it was trying to camouflage itself.

ECONOMIST: Robert Taylor

There were so many stores decorated with tinsel and streamers and balloons, selling little artificial fir trees, displaying gross Christmas cards hawkers had even set up on the sidewalks peddling these nauseous things (usually with pictures of a snowy scene in Vermont and some saccharin verse inside about ol' Jack Frost).

CNN: From Our Correspondent: Merry Christmas, Uncle Ho