{"id":18825,"date":"2017-11-01T18:50:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T22:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18825"},"modified":"2017-11-01T18:50:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T22:50:58","slug":"next-months-tree-lighting-just-got-more-christmassy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/next-months-tree-lighting-just-got-more-christmassy\/","title":{"rendered":"Next month\u2019s Tree Lighting just got more Christmassy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

In just a couple of weeks, Santa Claus will see Aurora getting its Christmas finery out for the annual Santa Under the Stars Parade, but when he returns for an encore at the beginning of December for the Town\u2019s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony he\u2019ll feel even more at home.
\nCouncil last week decided to spruce up the ceremony with a slight name change. Out is the former \u201cTree Lighting Ceremony\u201d and in is the \u201cChristmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a small detail, to be sure, but one which was, according to Councillor Harold Kim, probably an \u201coversight\u201d due to be corrected.
\nIn his notice of motion, which was approved 7 \u2013 1, Councillor Kim said the centrepiece of the ceremony is \u201cwell known to be a Christmas Tree\u201d and the word \u201cChristmas\u201d was not included in its original title back in 2005 for \u201creasons unknown.\u201d
\nSpeaking in support of Councillor Kim\u2019s motion, Councillor Tom Mrakas agreed that it was time to call it what it is.
\n\u201cAt the ceremony, Santa Claus is there, Mrs. Claus is there, she\u2019s reading \u2018Twas the Night before Christmas, we have reindeer, the Salvation Army is there singing Christmas carols so, to me, it kind of sounds like Christmas,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, you kind of call it like it is.\u201d
\nCouncillor Wendy Gaertner offered a similar view, adding that Council members are on stage singing Christmas carols as well.
\n\u201cFor me, it just continues the celebration of Christmas,\u201d added Councillor Sandra Humfryes. \u201cUsually the tree that is lit up at Christmastime is called a Christmas Tree and, for me, it is just a lovely clarification that it is a Christmas Tree and everyone is welcome to come and enjoy, with the inclusivity.\u201d
\nCouncillor Paul Pirri, on the other hand, had a differing opinion.
\n\u201cI am going to be the stick in the mud on this issue,\u201d he said. \u201cI just don\u2019t understand what the point is. We have had an event for the last 15 years and I just don\u2019t know why we\u2019re going through the process of changing the name that we have had for the past 15 years. It just seems a little bit beyond our role as Council, to deal with policy issues and procedural issues, to be going in and changing the name of events.
\n\u201cI think we\u2019re, to some extent, overstepping our boundary. We all know what it is, I just don\u2019t understand why we would go through the effort to change the name of something. We have other events; we have the Easter Egg Hunt, a myriad of other events, I just don\u2019t understand what the problem is, I don\u2019t understand what the point is, and I don\u2019t understand what we\u2019re fixing by doing this.
\n\u201cI am prepared to talk about how Christmas Trees were initially a pagan tradition, but I think everyone knows I like to deal with real, substantive issues and I don\u2019t think this is one of them.\u201d
\nCouncillor Kim, on the other hand, was prepared to defend his motion.
\n\u201cI respect Councillor Pirri\u2019s perspective, and I respect most of his perspectives, but this one I don\u2019t necessarily agree with,\u201d he said. \u201cI do agree that it is not regular for Council to change the name of any activity. However, this does kind of stick out in that ceremony started 12 years ago and, for some reason, Christmas was left out. Upon investigation, I am not sure why, but we do understand that possibly an omission was made, and it is such an obvious omission it would just seem proper to correct it and that is all this is. I am looking forward to the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.\u201d
\nIf you\u2019re looking forward to it as well, mark your calendars. It is set for Wednesday, December 6, from 6.30 \u2013 8.30 p.m. at Town Hall and the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In just a couple of weeks, Santa Claus will see Aurora getting its Christmas finery out for the annual Santa Under the Stars Parade, but when he returns for an encore at the beginning of December for the Town\u2019s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony he\u2019ll feel even more at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4TD","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-16 17:12:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}