If you think you have to travel to Rockefeller Center for a chance to view a prodigious pine, yule be barking up the wrong Christmas tree.

Cypress Gardens in Florida is the honorary home of the "World's Largest Christmas Tree" for 2001. It stands at over 110-feet and contains 25,000 lights. Official footage varies depending on who you talk to and some park staff place it at a height closer to 116-feet. No matter how you cut it, it still needles NY Cities' 81-foot prize.

Pictured in the background is the famous Lake Eloise where daily ski shows are performed. Dick Pope's efforts in the 1940s earned Cypress Gardens the distinction of being the "Water Ski Capital of the World." Santa is released from a boat tow and flies in on a hand-glider during the evening performance.

The only things to outshine a gliding Santa and the "Worlds Tallest Christmas Tree" are the lights themselves. Over 5-million bulbs twinkle along the garden walkways. At the north end of the park are glowing sculptures that would make Gatlinburg's popular displays seem like a bunch of burnouts. Brilliant animated figures depicting the 12 days of Christmas are strung along in a series of light up puns. Three birds on the Eiffel Tower are three French hens; four on a phone are the calling birds. The twelve days are topped off with an elaborate Swiss village that gives the illusion of skaters on a pond.

2001 marks Cypress Gardens 65th anniversary as an attraction. After several corporate owners, it is once again family operated. In Florida, that is definitely a Christmas miracle.

Garden of Lights (November to January)
Cypress Gardens
2641 South Lake Summit Drive
Winter Haven, FL