A private front yard in Glenview has given Chicago its most public holiday symbol. A towering Norway spruce tended by the Mason family now anchors Millennium Park as the city’s official Christmas tree—a neighborly gift scaled up to civic spectacle.

A front-yard giant

On Nov. 3, workers arrived in the Masons’ suburban neighborhood northwest of downtown Chicago, where families prize parks and community amenities, according to Glenview. The crew used a crane to lift the spruce—about 12,000 pounds when secured—onto a flatbed truck for its careful trip south, as reported by Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 3, 2025 story. Neighbors gathered to watch, and the Masons balanced attachment with pride.

“Unfortunately, it was time for the tree to go,” said Jody Mason, as reported in Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 3, 2025 story. Her 8-year-old son added a child’s plainspoken summation of the moment: “We are happy to share this tree with the whole city,” said Lucas Mason, as reported in Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 3, 2025 story.

The spruce—grown from a sapling into a broad, front-yard landmark—was cut and transported on Nov. 3, then raised in Millennium Park to be trimmed for the season, according to Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 3, 2025 story.

From Glenview to the Loop

Once in the park, the tree was dressed in holiday finery. City crews strung roughly 39,000 feet of wiring holding about 119,000 LED bulbs, and the finished silhouette rose to a stately 68 feet, according to Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 21, 2025 ceremony coverage. When the switch was flipped at the Nov. 21 ceremony—the 112th official tree lighting—the gathering took on a familiar, communal glow.

“This is a moment where we bring in joy and love and warm,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson, as reported in Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 21, 2025 ceremony coverage. He framed the evening as a show of resilience as well as celebration: “It doesn’t matter that the attacks that are coming against our city, we will always stay united,” Johnson said, according to Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 21, 2025 ceremony coverage.

A city ritual, renewed

Chicago’s official Christmas tree tradition reaches back more than a century. The first tree was lit in 1913 in Grant Park and remained there through 1965 before moving to Civic Center Plaza—now Daley Plaza—in 1966. In recent years, the city has made Millennium Park the holiday focal point, according to Chicago Sun-Times — history of Chicago Christmas tree displays (2018).

That long arc lends depth to the Masons’ donation. What began as one family’s decision on a quiet Glenview block now lives at the center of a downtown ritual—thousands of lights, a crowd’s cheer, and the sight of a lakefront city gathering under boughs that once shaded a single home. The logistics of cranes, flatbeds, and careful rigging, described by Chicago Sun-Times — Nov. 3, 2025 story, fade into the background once the lights are on.

As winter deepens, the Millennium Park tree belongs to everyone who lingers on the plaza, poses for a photo, or simply looks up. For the Masons—and for a community that, as Glenview notes, prizes its neighborhood fabric—the journey from front yard to public square is a reminder of how small acts of generosity can scale to citywide traditions. In the glow of this season’s tree, the distance between a quiet suburb and the heart of Chicago feels just a little shorter.

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