A sign of Christmas: Tree arrives in downtown Portland this week
PORTLAND, Ore. - You know Christmas is getting near when it's time for the tree to arrive at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland.
This year's tree, donated by the Stimson Lumber Company, is scheduled to be delivered this Friday at noon. And there will be a lot of fanfare to go with it.
Santa, the Get a Life Marching Band and Darigold's Farmalicious 1941 tractor will be escorting the tree as it makes its way along Southwest 6th Avenue to its destination.
And there will be free peppermint hot chocolate for those who gather at Pioneer Courthouse Square to watch the tree go up.
Once the tree is set in place, it'll take about a week to re-attach branches and tree limbs. When that is done, more than 14,000 multi-colored LED lights will be strung around the tree.
A tree lighting ceremony is scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving (Friday, Nov. 23) at 5:30 p.m. This year's event will feature a holiday sing-a-long.
Here's something that has crossed my mind: Â If they did decide to call that a "holiday tree" what if someone wanted to put a menorah aside it, should it be called a Chanukah Menorah or a Holiday Candleabra?
Man, they sure are in a hurry to push holliday shopping on us. A little early, I say. Heck, from the pics of some of the occutard's make up on the 3rd holloween isn't even over yet.
Must be time for a sale on explosives packed vans. Â Wonder who the FBI will dupe this year?
 @Festivus You think a tree that big would be more of a fire hazard than anything. I mean, granted it wouldn't ignite anything else but this is why I've always waited until well into December to get a tree of my own.
Ten bucks says Tre` Arrow falls out of it once it's set up.
"We have been unable to confirm rumors that a Portland Choir will be leading revelers at Pioneer Courthouse Square in a version of the traditional holiday song:Â All I want for Christmas is a New Mayor."
Its just sad that KATU has to be so PC that they can't even call it what it is....... A CHRISTMAS TREE
Exactly... KATU... grow a pair.. this is AMERICA, land of the Free, what in the world do all our VETS fight for....... , Let me say.... for us.... so we can have the right to have Christmas Trees, Santa Claus ... and... wait for it................. GOD!
@kramr It's called a Shopping Tree. The only reason Christmas is allowed is to get us to buy.Â
Itâs because the evergreen was a symbol of life and strength to people that followed ancient pagan beliefs. They would celebrate the winter solstice, so itâs actually not a Christmas tree, itâs a Pagan tree, adopted by the Romans when incorporating their wide array of cultures into one unified belief system, Roman Catholicism.
 @kramrÂ
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Well there was a time there was no Christmas tree. Before that it was a pagan tradition.
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Time changes, labels change.
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You can legally celebrate a number of holidays that all correspond to the Christmas one. And you can put up your tree and call it what you like.
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Indeed there is a longer tradition of Hebrews putting up trees than Christian.
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So call your holiday what you want, call your decor what you will. But don't get ticked because other people call it something different.
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 @Repoman
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Christmas is a pagan tradition because it is a corporate invention created to sell soda pop and toys. There is nothing of Santa Clause and Trees and all that stuff in the bible; therefore, it cannot be a Christian thing and virtually every religion...in the northern hemisphere....recognizes the most ancient tradition celebrating the solar new year.
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In America the season is about bilking everyone regardless of religious affiliation equally and it is the most Holy of seasons of the only state sanctioned religion: American Capitalism. I find it really funny that the Fundamentalist Christians and their Right Wing Conservative spokesmen make such a huge deal of owning the season and claiming it for Christians when it is so clearly owned for the benefit of retail and corporate profits.Â
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What I find particularly curious is that the whole conservative right tradition is a shill for corporate social dominance as evidenced by the struggle for the season as particularly Christian. The struggle by conservative talk show hosts to own the high season of commercialism in America as a Christian right is an example of that peculiar association between Corporations and Conservatism and Fundamentalism in America and it is funny because Christianity, by my reading, has nothing to do with any of the above but the tradition itself has become an object of manipulation and exploitation by that unholy trinity just like its faithful adherents.
 @kramr @last boyscoutÂ
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I will defend your right to say anything you wish although I may think less of you if that matters to you. And it does not preclude me from disagreeing with you.
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The First Amendment is where it should be, first on the Bill of Rights. Free speech, the cornerstone of all other rights. Without it you cannot have the others.
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It is why this comment section exists and why we can disagree about things and share space.
 @Repoman You suggest to 'not get ticked' because other people call it something different, will you defend me if I call a certain protected group 'something different'?Â
I will, its your freedom of expression. As long as you aren't resorting to violence you can SAY what ever you wish. In this country you have the right offend just as much as you have the right to be offended, its when people cross that line and and resort to harassment or physical violence.
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Doesn't make what you say truthful, accurate, or even decent - but you can say it, thats why I served in the Marine Corps, to defend the constitution and your rights and mine, even if i don't agree with you - I will defend your right to say it.
 @kramr I'm surprised they didn't title it "A sign of the Holidays"