Holiday lights around the world

The 2012 Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington, DC. This year’s tree is a 65-foot Engelmann spruce from the Blanco Ranger District of the White River National Forest in Colorado.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was lit during the 80th annual ceremony in Manhattan. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is a New York institution, installed since 1933, with some 30,000 lights plus other decorations. Check out more holiday displays from around the world.

Christmas holiday lights hung from trees to illuminate the Champs Elysees as rush hour traffic filled the avenue leading up to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Hannah Dickey, 9, of Winchester, Va., left, her brother, Johnathan, 13, and friend Lori Getz of Capon Bridge, W.Va. strolled through the walking path in Clear Brook Park in Clearbrook, Va. during the annual “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” holiday light show. Last year more than 24,000 people visited the light display.

Lights illuminated one of the many shops specializing in handmade wooden Christmas decorations in Dresden, Germany. Located in the Ore Mountains, Seiffen is home to a number of workshops that specialize in hand-painted wooden Christmas decorations and carvings. The wooden figures are sold around the world and are made using skills going back centuries.

Boats strung with holiday lights floated in Motts Channel as the 29th annual North Carolina Holiday Flotilla at Wrightsville Beach got under way Saturday. Twenty vessels made their way down Banks Channel to Masonboro Inlet glowing with holiday lights to the enjoyment of onlookers throughout the island.

A giant Christmas Ball was lit on Dec. 1 at Rossio Square in Lisbon.

Christmas decorations and lights hung above the streets of Vienna.

The lights were turned on at the fifth annual Holiday Tree Lighting at L.A. Live and opening of LA Kings Holiday Ice Wednesday. The hockey Kings are, of course, still locked out by the NHL.

Christmas lights illuminated the inner city of Strasbourg, France.

Stars illuminate downtown Vilnius, Lithuania.

Reid Wooden inspected the Christmas lights on a pine tree during Nisswa’s City of Lights celebration in Nisswa, Minn.

The US Capitol stood behind the colorful lights of the United States Botanic Garden.

The illuminated Christmas tree outside 10 Downing St., the prime minister’s residence in London.

An ornament at Glasgow’s Holiday Lights and Magic.

Christmas lights decorate trees at the East Beltline entrance for Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Fireworks exploded over the floating Christmas tree in Lagoa lake at the annual holiday tree lighting event in Rio de Janeiro.

Gabrielle Bell, 17, of Alameda, Calif., toured the annual “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” holdiay light display.

Visitors lchecked out the holiday display at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Christmas Town, returning for a fourth season this year, features nearly 6 million lights adorning nearly every building.

Chains of lights at the Christmas market in Luebeck, Germany. Children gave the countdown for the Christmas lights to be switched on. Around 275,000 LED lights will illuminate the streets of Luebeck’s “old town’’ until Jan. 6.

Traffic made its way along a busy New Bond Street in London.

A couple enjoyed Christmas illumination in Tokyo’s Shiodome.

People attended a Christmas lights illumination in Medellin, Colombia.

Traders sold lights at a booth at Berlin’s winter market at the Gendarmenmarkt.

A young girl on her father’s shoulders looked at the holiday display at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Holiday lights adorned buildings in the Country Club Plaza shopping center in Kansas City, Mo.

Holiday lights reflected off Indian Creek in Caldwell, Idaho. More than 500,000 lights are part of the annual display.

Lights illuminated a 32-meter Christmas tree on the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Spectators viewed an elaborately decorated home in the Brooklyn borough of New York.

Christmas lights and decorations on Lawrence Street in Boston’s South End.

People walked behind Christmas lights during snowfall in the city center of Frankfurt, Germany.

People roasted marshmallows over bonfires during the Christmas Lights Illumination Ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

The Christmas decoration of the Cibeles’ Palace in Madrid, Spain.

People watched fireworks explode during the illumination of Christmas lights for the Children’s Museum in San Jose, Costa Rica.