So there I was, taking my early morning route to my office, admiring the red, bronze, green and yellow leaves of liquidambars in December…

…when I came upon an unusual sight. Instead of the dangling seedpods that you see on these trees this time of year, as on this branch…

…I ran across several trees with different sorts of ornaments suspended from the almost-bare branches.

Here’s a closeup view. The ornaments? Cell phones!

By now you’re probably asking, they look festive enough, but why cell phones?

Well, these trees were part of the landscaping around the Jacobs School of Engineering on the UCSD campus, named after benefactors Joan and Irwin Jacobs, of Qualcomm fame. (That’s Qualcomm as in one of the main players in the design and manufacture of cell phones…)

I guess cell phone ornaments probably won’t be catching on in households unless they’re the households of billionaire telecomm execs, but it gave me a laugh. And isn’t it great to see trees other than conifers all dolled up for the holidays?