London photo of the day: Trafalgar Square Christmas tree

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Donated every year by the people of Oslo, as thanks for Britain’s help in World War II. (That’s the National Gallery in the background.)

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Judy

Thu, Dec 12, 2013 2:51am

Gorgeous!

bronxbee

Thu, Dec 12, 2013 5:21pm

i do wish they wouldn’t just “drape” the lights on a tree… i like it when the lights show off the shape of the tree. though it is nice of the people of Oslo (Osloans? Oslians?)

NorthernStar

reply to bronxbee

Thu, Dec 12, 2013 8:09pm

The lights are a traditional Norweigan design and always look like that. It’s a nice acknowledgement of the origins of this “queen of the forest.”

I don’t know what signals the real start of Christmas in New York, but for many Londoners the lighting of the Trafalgar tree on the first Thursday in December is when it begins.

bronxbee

reply to NorthernStar

Thu, Dec 12, 2013 9:45pm

thanks for the info. in NY, it’s when Santa Claus goes by in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade… *then* you can listen to Christmas Carols and watch “March of the Wooden Soldiers” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” (although, in recent years, that has been supplanted by “A Christmas Story.”) but until Santa goes by, only crazy people who are extremely organized do any real Christmas stuff…