Christmas light switch on

On Thursday 27th November saw my home city of Chichester switch the Christmas lights on, the blessing of the Christmas tree and then followed up by a great firework display over the Cathedral. Normally I wouldn’t normally bother going to this but my partner seemed quite keen to go this year so we took my mum and joined the crowds to see the switch on. For me when the lights get switched on it then brings Chichester to life and on the countdown to Christmas.

The local Radio station was there building the excitement and for children there was a treasure hunt that they could do round the shops in the city. There was a huge turnout and whilst we waiting for the countdown to the switch on we could have done some Christmas shopping as most shops stayed open, joined in the Carols with the choir at 6.30pm from the Petworth Town Band, The New Community Choir, & Oakwood Preparatory School – and for those who didn’t know the words then you could download the carol song sheet in advance, so no excuses not to join in.

After the choir we then had the blessing of the tree and then the countdown commenced, and the lights switched on (which seemed to be the same as last years and some of them weren’t working already) and then the firework display commenced which lasted about 7 minutes.

So from the 1st December up to Christmas in Chichester we will have daily carols sang round the tree by a different school every day, the Christmas Market will be in town from the 6th December to the 14th December, and there will also be a torch lit procession through the city during December . The bit I still love  even as an adult is when the Lions Club come round the streets of Chichester with their float playing carols and with Father Christmas on board for the children.

So as I am writing this there is only 27 days until Christmas and probably would be a good idea to start thinking of doing my Christmas shopping. My partner has also agreed that this year not only can I buy a new bigger tree but we can also put it up on the 1st December. Do your home towns/cities do anything special for Christmas?