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Reporter: John Chapman, Chase Moffitt

Tree Lighting
Durham Museum Tree Lighting

A day after Thanksgiving, now people's thoughts turn to the December holidays. Several lighting ceremonies were taking place on Friday, including the lighting of the Christmas tree at Omaha’s Durham Museum.

Workers were busy putting on the finishing touches as the crowd began to gather early, making sure they had a good spot for the tree lighting ceremony. This year’s tree is a 37-foot blue spruce.

The event is one of Omaha's oldest holiday traditions. The lighting kicks off Christmas activities at Union Station. “We actually have next Friday, an ethic holiday festival, a really neat event for families looking to see how different cultures celebrate the holidays,” said the museum’s Shawna Forsberg. “We have family night with Santa each Tuesday and a concert series on the weekend so if people can’t make it out tonight, there’s plenty of opportunities to come down.”

More than 2,000 people attended the lighting ceremony. Daughter and mother duo Nicole Blum and Julie Marra made their way inside the museum for the first time to watch.

"We like the cold weather outside because that means Christmas is coming,” said Blum. “We love the beautiful tree up here."

"We enjoyed the exhibits downstairs,” said Marra. “I've never seen it before and didn't know it existed."

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