One flip of a switch in Millennium Park Friday night turned a Glenview family’s front-yard spruce into this year’s symbol of Christmas in downtown Chicago.

In one moment, more than 39,000 feet of lights wrapping the 68-foot Norwegian evergreen came to life, as fireworks lit up the cityscape and thousands let out a cheer for the holiday season.

“This is a moment where we bring in joy and love and warm,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told the crowd. “It doesn’t matter that the attacks that are coming against our city, we will always stay united.”

The celebration’s centerpiece comes from the Mason family. Its owners, Ryan and Jody Mason, told the Sun-Times their home’s previous owner planted the spruce in the 1980s.

The family is glad to see it fulfilling its holiday purpose, Jody Mason said Frid

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