{"id":15183,"date":"2025-12-18T17:43:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/photos-children-decorate-cortez-police-department-community-tree\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:45:17","slug":"photos-children-decorate-cortez-police-department-community-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/photos-children-decorate-cortez-police-department-community-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Children decorate Cortez Police Department community tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fifth
Fifth grader Jazzy Lopez examines her handmade ornament before placing it on the Cortez Police Department\u2019s community Christmas tree Tuesday. During a free period, the kids made decorations for the massive, blue-lighted tree with festive, lightweight ornaments crafted from pipe cleaners, beads and yarn. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Student in fourth, fifth and sixth grades gathered outside the Cortez Police Department Tuesday to decorate its community Christmas tree, adding personal touches to the large blue-lighted tree.<\/p>\n

Katie Uran\u2019s class placed ornaments on the lower branches. When one student announced, \u201cI\u2019m going to go climb the tree,\u201d adults reminded them to secure decorations but avoid climbing.<\/p>\n

Organizers encouraged children to choose their own spots, calling it a \u201ccommunity tree\u201d where ornaments could be placed freely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want it like right there,\u201d one child said while securing an ornament, while another asked, \u201cMs. Katie, can I put on my ornament?\u201d<\/p>\n

Other children pointed out where theirs landed. \u201cMy wreath is right there,\u201d one said. Another added, \u201cI got to hang this for one of my classmates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some asked for help reaching higher branches. \u201cI need your help, I\u2019m the smallest in the class,\u201d one said, prompting an adult to assist.<\/p>\n

Children showed off ornaments and described designs they created, including wreaths, angels and stars.<\/p>\n

The department invites families to hang weather-safe ornaments on the tree outside the station\u2019s south lawn, continuing the tradition for a second year.<\/p>\n

Lead 911 dispatcher Valerie Rendon suggested the idea. Empire Electric helped hang the blue lights, using a bucket lift to reach the treetop. Rendon watched from a window as children hung ornaments.<\/p>\n

\"Fourth
Fourth grader Connor Blair holds out his star before hanging it on the Christmas tree, with classmate Leiyah Begay looking on. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Katie
Katie Uran, far right, a teacher at Children's Kiva Montessori School in Cortez, checks out her students\u2019 work Tuesday. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Melina
Melina Young, a sixth grader, finds her ornament as others sift through ones they decorated during a free period. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fourth
Fourth grader Miles Gardner ponders where to place his, which is made out of colorful pipe cleaners. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fourth
Fourth grader Leiyah Begay stretches high, hoping to reach a faraway branch. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ornaments
Ornaments wrap the trunk of the Cortez Police Department\u2019s community tree Tuesday. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children from Children\u2019s Kiva Montessori School hung handmade ornaments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[755,21,28,29,51,93],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-christmas","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-police","tag-students"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15183"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19523,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15183\/revisions\/19523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15183"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}