Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

The Vineyards puts a tree in the middle of the plaza every December, and this one ran nearly the full height of the buildings around it with a lit star sitting on top. People started gathering while the sky was still blue and stayed well past dark.

The stage worked the whole evening. A dance troupe in Santa hats opened while the tree still had daylight behind it, then a trio of carolers in red satin and white fur took the rest of the night, singing through a snow machine that barely stopped. Turn around from the stage and the plaza is solid families, most of them filming.

Away from the music there was a long craft table with children packed along both sides painting and threading wooden ornaments, and the Grinch in a Santa suit holding court in front of the tree.

Most of the rest of the night was portraits. Families, couples, groups of cousins, and a steady run of kids who had plainly chosen their sweaters weeks earlier. That is what a lighting ceremony gives you when it is covered properly: one very good backdrop, a few hundred people, and everybody going home with something.