Santa and the Tree That Finally Lit -- A Christmas Tree Lighting in Greenwich

As hundreds of Greenwich children and their parents awaited the annual lighting of the Greenwich Town Hall Christmas tree, the Greenwich Fire Department’s Engine 1 crew made a special delivery.

With sirens blaring and the truck’s lights ablaze, the Engine 1 pulled up to Town Hall in the middle of Field Point Road traffic. The ‘package’ they delivered — Santa Claus. As the youngsters realized what was happening, a knot of them came running, yelling “It’s Santa,” as the Jolly Old Elf alighted the truck with assistance from Firefighter Matt Romeo and Lt. Tom Lenhart.

Santa was enveloped by the youngsters who eagerly accepted the candy canes he pulled from his huge red velvet sack.

Nearby, others waited in line to take a ride aboard a mechanical polar bear and a reindeer who bore a resemblance to Rudolf with his red nose and snowflakes dangling from his antlers. And many youngsters got to sit inside the jump seats of Engine 1.

Gallons of hot chocolate and apple cider, along with cookies — compliments of Stop & Shop, were served by Greenwich Parks and Recreation employees.

Dozens of youngster and teens took advantage of The Make A Wish Foundation’s Letters to Santa drive. For each letter collected, the foundation will receive a dollar donation from Macy’s. There was miniature cardboard mailbox for kids to deposit their Christmas wishes.

As he has done since 2009, First Selectman Peter Tesei led the countdown for the tree lighting. But there were a few glitches.

First the tree already was lit — but no one really seemed to notice.

After someone in town hall shut off the lights, the countdown began.

But to the amazement of the crowd, the lights didn’t turn on. That prompted Tesei to quip, “I guess we didn’t pay the electric bill.”

So the Greenwich High School Chamber Singers, under the tutlage of Music Director Patrick Taylor, gathered around the tree and continued their perfect pitch a cappella singing with their rendition of ‘O Christmas Tree.’

Moments later, a second countdown was done. Again, the tree remained dark, prompting laughter from the crowd. As the crowd joined in singing with the choir, the tree suddenly went ablaze in red, blue, green, white and yellow lights, amid cheers.

The Greenwich Christmas celebration continues through the weekend.

On Saturday and Sunday, there’s the Greenwich Holiday Stroll Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m. in the downtown business district. There are more than 100 businesses participating with special events, refreshments and sales, along with performances from more than a dozen groups, ice sculpture demonstrations, a live Nativity sponsored by local churches, food trucks and horse-drawn carriage rides.

For more information check out www.greenwichreindeerfestival.com.

Photos by Barbara Heins: from the Greenwich Town Hall tree lighting on Dec. 5, 2014.

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