Unique ways Americans celebrate the holidays, from skiing Santas to Festivus feats

This holiday season, many Americans will be decorating Christmas trees, lighting Hanukkah candles, building gingerbread houses and savoring time with family and friends.

And across the country, many people will be celebrating with less conventional — but no less beloved — local traditions, from lighting lobster trap trees in New England to caroling in caves in Wisconsin to watching Santa surf in California.

In Denver, people keep their Christmas lights on until the National Western Stock Show ends in late January. (When to put them up, however, is both a matter of personal preference and widespread debate.) In St. Louis, costumed Santas perform flash mobs in busy streets and swim with aquarium sharks. Kansas City holds an annual mass trombone concert at its historic Union Station.

Many communities celebrate with Christmas trees decorated with — or made out of — materials and products unique to their state. The Genesee Brewery puts up a "keg tree" in Rochester, N.Y., while Jack Daniels lights up a "barrel tree" in Lynchburg, Tenn. There's a 30-plus-foot tumbleweed tree in Arizona and a 700-ton sand tree (named Sandi) in Florida.

Families, companies and religious groups are putting their own spin on holiday festivities, from lighting, they've created some uplifting new traditions in the process.