Lighting the Christmas Tree
OK, picture this: You are walking around in the city, minding your own business and focusing on the ground to avoid slipping on the ice. It’s late November and shops are beginning to put up decorations. You hear the low hum of rotor blades in the distance. As you walk, the hum gets louder and louder and you realise that the helicopter is coming in straight above you. You look up and see…
… a tree!
That’s right – no strapping on the back of a truck or shipping by boat. In Tromsø, the three-story tall Christmas tree gets a VIP ride to town square. And I just happened to be there with my trusted phone camera:
The tree is officially lit on the first Sunday of Advent (fourth Sunday before Christmas), and the event always gathers a big crowd. The town square, usually occupied by fruit stands and statues, gets flooded with people of all ages. The Salvation Army and other bands play familiar Christmas tunes as the crowd forms circles and dance around the tree. If there are too many for a circle, they form another one outside it and dance in the opposite direction. I counted eleven circles. The city tree certainly gets a warm welcome.
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It is a beautiful tree, but I too would be amazed to see a tree flying above, hehe.
How exciting to see the tree delivered right in front of your camera! LOL! It looks beautiful with all of the lights. Congrats on your recent 100th blog post! I hadn’t realized that or I would have written something. Thanks for yours on Heart Choices.
I think this is my first comment so ill take this opportunity to say i love this blog, and i cant wait to spend my gap year in norway!!
In my urban english town, our christmas tree and lights are very poor indeed! Usually by christmas all the lights have been stolen
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from L-Jay:
Hi Sam
Thanks so much for your comment.
Coming to Norway for a whole gap year would be fantastic! Norway is very different in Summer and Winter – almost like living in two different countries…lol. And you are right next door to Sweden, Finmark, Denmark and even Russa, it is easy to travel.
It’s a shame about your city’s Christmas tree. Here I think there are so many lights to go around that no one bothers…lol. Nearly every front yard has a Christmas tree growing in it and at Christmas people actually decorate them with lights and leave them switched on 24/7 (Of course it’s always dark this time of year too.) It makes you feel like you are walking around in Santa’s home with all the snow.