Members of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw load more than 1,300 Christmas trees in preparation for the annual transit to Chicago where the trees will be given to nonprofit organizations, pre-determined by the Chicago maritime community, and then to needy families, Nov. 20, 2012. The Mackinaw, which has been serving as the Christmas Ship since 2000 and reenacting a tradition dating back to the late 1890s, makes the annual trip in conjunction with annual fall buoy retrieval operations.