Submitted story by-
Petty Officer Second Class Maria Lorenzo
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown Public Affairs
YORKTOWN, Va. (December 15, 2025) Naval Weapons Station Yorktown’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Department harked in this year’s holiday season at The Depot on Tuesday, December 5th with the installation’s highly anticipated Winter Wonderland and Trees for Troops Event. This year’s event allowed over 100 service members and connected family members an opportunity to receive free freshly cut Christmas Trees as part of the Trees for Troops program and make merry and bright with festive family activities at their Winter Wonderland extravaganza.
Trees for Troops, a program sponsored by the Christmas Spirit Foundation, delivered hundreds of free, farm-grown Christmas trees to service members and their families just in time for the holidays. MWR staff, augmented by a contingent of volunteers from tenant commands toiled away at unloading the trees at approximately 1600 that afternoon. Command volunteers, including Culinary Specialist Ross Goodrich who is assigned to the installation’s award-winning Scudder Hall Galley, toiled away at unloading nearly 150 freshly cut Christmas Trees from a FedEx Tractor Trailer that arrived just in-time to beat rush hour traffic. The trees were neatly stacked outdoors at The Depot, and doors officially opened to the community at 1800 for families to pick out their own freshly cut Christmas tree.
As was the case in year’s past, NWS Yorktown was the only U.S. Navy installation on the Virginia Peninsula to serve as a distribution point. Southside installation included Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story and Marine Corps Base Camp Elmore onboard Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads. Combined, these installations comprised over 80 installations across all of the armed services nationwide the distributed free Christmas Trees to service members and their families; enabling many to have a joyful and triumphant holiday season. The highly anticipated giveaway saw families, bundled up against the evening air, selecting fresh firs from the outdoor display. Many were photographed carrying their trees—a tradition that helps relieve financial and logistical burdens for those serving the country.
Trees for Troops, as part of the larger Christmas Sprit Foundation, has delivered over 320,000 freshly cut Christmas Trees since this free program for service members started over 15 years ago. NWS Yorktown has been a much-anticipated distribution point for the program for the past several years.
While families picked out free Christmas Trees outside, the inside NWS Yorktown’s The Depot facility was transformed into a joyful and triumphant Winter Wonderland. Families were greeted with holiday music, activities, and photo opportunities with holiday characters. Santa and Mrs. Claus took their places on a festive throne, greeting children and posing for pictures. The facility also featured a photo booth area, complete with holiday props, and a visit from the Grinch, who was surprisingly full of holiday spirit while posing with young attendees. There was also a group of holiday Christmas carolers dressed in period specific holiday attire that was reminiscent of a scene from Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol.
The evening was filled with dancing and a palpable sense of community, allowing military families stationed at NWS Yorktown and nearby to relax and celebrate the season together. The event finally concluded shortly after 2000 when the last attendee departed allowing staff members and volunteers from the installations tenant commands an opportunity to reflect on a successful evening full of festive holiday cheer.