Over 3,000 people. 46 degree weather. Partly cloudy. People to the back, the left, and the right of you. Playful screams of children. Foul language. Couples, young and old, lost in mutual affection, holding each other as if frozen in time. Smiles and laughter infect the crowd; others are touched by impatience.
The voice of Marty J. Walsh, with his signature Bostonian accent, echoes from an external sound stage in the middle of the Common. It is so loud you can’t even hear a single word the man is saying. The wind waxes and wanes in force. Sluggish clouds of weed smoke hover above in the cool evening air as thousands of Bostonians and out-of-towners alike come together to witness one of Boston’s oldest traditions—the Nova Scotia Tree Lighting. 
Unfortunately, I had a sudden craving for Chinese food and left the festivities to treat myself to a birthday dinner (and drinks). Two hours and three “Dragon Delights” later, I realized the time and dashed back to Park Street like Usain Bolt. Heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, stutter-stepping and laughing. It was a beautiful disaster. Upon arrival, I was astonished: the tree was lit in green, blue, and red fire. 
Whether Boston performs this ceremony to compete with New York’s Rockefeller Tree Lighting Ceremony or to simply get Bostonians in the Christmas spirit (and by that, I mean spend all of our money downtown Christmas shopping) makes no difference to me. It is a good time and a fine tradition, one that I hope all of my fellow students at the University of Massachusetts Boston take advantage of in the coming days and weeks ahead. 
Maybe next year, I’ll arrive a little earlier and take a shot of the tree when the actual lighting happens.