Arnold on Extra! California 'Tree of Heroes' Lighting!

Governor Schwarzenegger was once again on hand to flick the switch at California's 77th official Christmas tree lighting! With the Capitol glistening Tuesday night like a giant ornament this year's theme was "WE celebrate" and included a food drive.

"This is a spectacular Christmas tree and I'm almost sure this is the biggest Christmas tree in the United States" beamed Arnold. "This is 50 feet tall and it has 9,500 low-wattage lights up there. So this tree is not only green by color, but it's also getting powered green, which is very important to all of us. And it has 3,000 ornaments. That's more ornaments than we've ever had before. And the great thing here is that half of those ornaments were made by Californians with developmental disabilities, so let's give them a big hand for doing such a great job with that also!"

"Now, what is also unique and great about this tree is that we call it the Tree of Heroes. And the reason why we call it the Tree of Heroes is because we have so many heroes in our state and a lot of those heroes are with us here today."

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Tune in today! Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver are joined by EXTRA's Mario Lopez at last night's Los Angeles Christmas tree lighting ceremony. California's first couple talks candidly about their marriage and their futures in politics. Check extratv.com for syndicated/local listings.

Musical entertainers included Rick Springfield, Sheryl Lee Ralph and the Varsity Fanclub.

GlobalArnold Staff