Girls’ gift to Westin hotel: A little paper Christmas tree to replace a big burned-up one

Two young girls walked into the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel early Tuesday afternoon bearing a gift.

The day before, flames had engulfed South Coast Plaza’s 96-foot-tall Christmas tree in front of the Costa Mesa hotel’s porte-cochère on a grassy strip of Town Center Park, across Bristol Street from the famed mall. The lavishly decorated white fir was essentially a total loss, apparently the victim of an electrical fire.

But the two girls weren’t having it. This, after all, is Christmastime.

So around 1 p.m. Tuesday, they bestowed the Westin’s front desk staff with a new homemade tree — created with paper and lots of love — to replace the one lost outside the hotel’s doors.

“Everyone was really touched by it,” Trine Ackelman, the Westin’s director of sales and marketing, said in an interview Friday. “It was so thoughtful. It showed everyone what Christmas spirit is, and it’s alive and well.”

The gift tree, about 3 feet tall, has a cardboard trunk and curved green paper branches, some of them with paper candy canes. Pine cones rest around its base, as does a present.

Topping it off is a silver ball ornament.

Originally, the tree was placed in the Westin’s employee cafeteria. It has since been moved into the public spotlight, on some furniture in front of the Lobby Lounge near the front desk.

“The story is spreading and the guests are finding it really cute,” Ackelman said.

By Wednesday, South Coast Plaza had come up with a backup plan for the white fir: installing strands of 8,000 lights around the charred trunk. The effect is a tree-like shape.

The girls left a note with their much smaller tree: a dedication to the city of Costa Mesa.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get their names,” Ackelman said.

Now, though, the Westin is looking to personally thank whoever dropped it off. The staff believes the girls are local, around 5 and 7 years old.

Ackelman said the girls apparently had lost a Christmas tree in a similar situation and it was never replaced.

“They knew what that felt like,” Ackelman said, “so they wanted to give a tree for everyone to enjoy.”