Tree lighting brings good cheer

Marisa Petrich/Northwest Guardian

Emmit McRae has been part of Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s annual tree lighting for the last 20 years.

McRae, an electrician with JBLM’s Operations and Maintenance Division, has lit the tree in freezing temperatures and stormy weather. He’s lit it for big crowds and small crowds. MacRae has lit the tree in just about every situation imaginable — but his favorite part is always the same.

“(I love) watching the kids,” McRae said. “And bringing the Families closer together.”

This year the 60-foot tall tree went live during a ceremony Dec. 7. As usual, there was singing, dancing and even a visit from Santa Claus at the end of the night.

It’s a different tree than in years past, due to the construction on Liggett Ave. The new tree stands at the corner of Division Street and Liggett Avenue, and McRae estimates it’s covered in about 5,000 lightbulbs. That’s 2,000 to 3,000 more than covered the previous tree.

In fact, the planning for the event starts in August. Employees at the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation pick the date that far out, and then begin coordinating with other base agencies.

“There’s a lot of community agencies that pull together to make this happen,” FMWR special events director Kate Laverents said.

The crowd that came was glad they did, including five-year-old Ryleigh Grigsby who got to press the button to make the lights come on.

Ryleigh’s dad, Sgt. Jonathan Grigsby, is deployed to Afghanistan with the 593rd Sustainment Brigade. Ryleigh’s favorite part of the ceremony was the red lights wrapping their way around the tree — but her mom, Diana, knew there was more to it than that.

“(This is) going to be very memorable,” she said. “It’s very comforting, and they (the Army community) take care of us.”

Staff Sgt. Todd Hunt, 56th Army Band, agreed. He brought his four children to the reception following the event at the AFC Arena, where they could eat cookies and drink cocoa and sit on Santa’s knee.

“It gets the children in the holiday spirit,” he said as he held his three-year-old daughter’s jacket and place in line to meet Saint Nick.

But more than that, it shows that the community remembers those that need it most.

“It’s great that they have activities for the kids, especially when their Families are deployed,” Hunt said.

For many, that sense of community — and a little extra light this time of year — is what truly rings in the holiday season.

“It makes it feel like Christmas,” Laverents said.