For five years now, they’ve shown up as soon as the holiday lights do. They’re a pair of magical and mysterious Christmas trees, dressed to the nines, who spend every December prancing around the Bay Area, spreading joy and seasonal cheer. This year, they’re at it again (face shields on and sanitizer in hand). And they’re also finally ready to reveal their true identities in an exclusive interview with KQED Arts & Culture via tree-mail, I mean email.
Other news outlets have previously reported that you are a human couple simply wearing tree costumes to spread festive joy. But that's not true, is it?
Well, we’ve been pretending to be a couple of guys in costumes, waiting for someone to call our bluff. We’re eager to share the real story behind our annual visits now. People get very nervous when we tell them we’re magical trees sent by Santa, so we’ve spent years pretending to be humans. We’ve learned to do all the human things—talk to dogs, pretend to struggle with our masks, and we have even lost balance and fallen face first onto the grass, just to seem believable!
Why have you kept your true identities as magical beings a secret from the media thus far?
When people ask questions, we always tell the truth first! Everyone says, ‘Okay sure, but what’s the real answer?’ We asked Santa about this phenomenon and all he said was, ‘Don’t get me started.’
