NBC 17’s Tree of Lights celebration inspired me to do more than shop for Christmas presents, mail the yearly Christmas card, bake cookies, etc.  It inspired me to visit area celebrations to see how the various communities we serve celebrate the holiday season.  Below is a short video compilation of the scenes that I captured as I attended the Capitol Tree Lighting in Raleigh, the Christmas in Cleveland celebration in Johnston County, and the Smithfield Holiday parade.  I hope you enjoy my trek through the Triangle this holiday season.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Holiday!

The following slide show is courtesy of Tara Beddingfield.  Thank you, Tara!

Please note that all photographs are watermarked and are the property of NBC 17. Thank you!

When the day came to an end, NBC 17, The Streets at Southpoint, the volunteers, Feathers, the crowd and Lifehouse stepped back to enjoy the Tree ~ in all its winter wonder!

Here’s a recap of the NBC 17 Tree of Lights ~ 2007!

And don’t forget, we hope to see you next year at the Triangle’s newest holiday tradition!

~Ashley Sue

Making a great Tree of Lights with Lifehouse required some practice.

As the band only got into Durham Saturday morning, lucky shoppers and fans that came early got to jam to soundchecks and rehearsals for the band and NBC 17!

Enjoy!

~Ashley Sue

Tree of Lights was a blur ~ the day happened so fast!

Here are a few of the steps (and truly, only a few steps) NBC 17 took Saturday morning to get ready for all the fun!

~Ashley Sue

Hi All! I just wanted to post a few video clips of our Tree of Lights Sponsors from this year’s event.  We heard from Durham Regional, Rex Healthcare, The Holiday Lights Store, and MADD.  And though he wasn’t a sponsor, we even had a chance to hang out with the Chick Fila Cow!  Here’s what everybody had to say: 

Oh yeah, and I promised a big THANKS to the City of Durham Fire Department for being so nice!  Thanks Guys!!! Happy Holidays Everybody! 

~Candace

Check out our department caught on tape throughout the Tree of Lights event!

-Doug

Admittedly, I’m guilty of being a groupie of sorts.  Back in my college days I went from venue to venue to see artists like Def Leppard, Heart, and even Reba McIntyre.  I’m still kind of a “groupie” cuz I would travel as far as necessary to see my favorite musicians and actors if I had the chance. 

But, this vlog isn’t about me.  It’s about three ladies I met at Tree this weekend - two from Georgia and one from here in Winston-Salem.  These girls will travel as far as necessary to see Lifehouse.  But, I think the most interesting part of my conversation with them was how they met.  Take a look for yourself -

Earlier, I gave you a glimpse into the life of Sissy Harrington.  The following video is a compilation of some of the time I spent with the local talent.  All of the acts were generous with their time - NC Dance Institute, the 82nd Airborne All American Chorus, King’s Choir, and Sissy Harrington.   The girls of the NC Dance Institute were fun to watch, especially as they literally ran to hear Lifehouse during their soundcheck.  The ladies of King’s Choir shared what performing means to them with me.  It was truly a fun afternoon and early evening spent with the local performers.  I look forward to seeing what’s in store for us at next year’s Tree of Lights.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my vlog:

See you all at next year’s Tree of Lights!

I’m very much a right-brained person.  I love anything to do with the arts - music, movies, theater, dance, etc.  So when I got the “assignment” to spend some time behind the scenes with the local talent, I was THRILLED!!  Music, and performing in general, is a passion of mine.  I had the opportunity to spend a couple of minutes with Burlington, North Carolina -born and NC State graduate, Sissy Harrington, after her soundcheck.  I discovered that not only is she a talented young lady but she’s also very warm and gracious.  Her good fortune is our gain!  Take a look at my “Two Minutes With Sissy Harrington”:

Thank you, Sissy! Best wishes to you in Nashville and beyond.

I got to go behind the scenes with Lifehouse! Check out my vlog and see just how the day went.

-Teran

Before the show last night I was out asking people to guess how tall the tree was that we lit, and how many lights it takes to light it.  I got some interesting guesses.  So exactly how may lights does it take?  Check out the video to find out.

 How tall is the tree you are getting this year?

Please, let us take a moment to honor a Tree.

A Tree that takes its final bow before a crowd of tens of thousands and makes history in a blaze of glory!

So I don’t know if it was the anticipation of today’s fun, if it was the Sudephedrine I took yesterday, or the frustration I had trying to get my internet to hold out long enough for my videos to upload (my fingers are crossed right now as the second uploads), but I truly got two hours of sleep last night. 

I fell asleep about midnight and woke up with energy at 230 am!  Boo.  I laid there restless for the night ~ and I thought about getting up to blog here about it… then remembered my connection keeps dying anyhow…

For the record, if my connection holds up, here is the “Making of Tree” video… a few minutes showing the progress made at the Streets of Southpoint in preparation for today ~ so all you see is flawless entertainment and holiday sparkle!

I sat in a few meetings too, but no need to show you all of that… the snippet of meeting I added… multiply that by 1,000 and you now see all the planning and hard work that goes into Tree!

After everything is in place, we hope to see you there tonight and hope that you love every moment of it as much as we do!

~Ashley Sue

…this holiday season?

That’s the question I asked some of the shoppers at the Streets of Southpoint mall today as we at NBC 17 geared up for our HUGE celebration tomorrow evening.  Take a look at some of the responses I received:

Now that you’ve seen what some of the folks at Southpoint are most looking forward to, we’d love to hear what YOU are looking forward to the most.  Is it going for those evening drives to check out the holiday lights or the scrumptious smells coming from grandma’s kitchen as she bakes her famous holiday cookies or for you kids out there - how ’bout the time off from school?

Go ahead and comment! We want to hear from YOU!

Today The Streets at Southpoint was busy with everyone setting up stages, hanging signs, and putting together finishing touches for the Live show tomorrow evening at 7:30.  So what does the executive producer of the show think about the day before the show?  I spoke with Brian at the tree today to find out:

We wanted to show you a little bit of what goes into the preparation for the Tree of Lights. Check out our video of the production team setting everything up for the big day!

See you tomorrow at Southpoint Mall!

~Candace and Doug

So I’m covering behind the scenes with Lifehouse the day of Tree, so today I thought I would give you a behind the scenes look at what was going on today in preparation for Lifehouse.

The day after the lights were all strung on the tree Wayne and his crew began to hang the ornaments.  They had to use two cherry pickers to get them up into the tree and it took 4 people to unpack the ornaments to decorate.

 Two years ago our very own Maryann Balbo got to go up into the cherry picker and ended up getting stuck.  She had to stay at the top of the tree to wait for a different cherry picker to come, and then climb over one to get to the other from 50 feet in the air.  So, you can imagine how hesitant I was to go up myself, but I conquered the heights and got a nice view of the Streets at Southpoint while decorating the 54 foot tree! 

Check out my experience decorating the tree with Wayne:

Our Contest to register to win to meet Lifehouse ended on Tuesday. However, Lifehouse will be performing a LIVE mini-concert at 6:30pm before the show at 7:30pm.

Congratulations to our winners!

*Megan Grimes *Page Smith *Macushla Glass *Derrick Nobles *Margo Hickman *Emily Harper *Jeffrey Gray *Debbie Fowler *Jeanette Stephenson *Joanne Hilman *Lisa Lassiter *Kristen Johnson *Kathy Rackley *Carol Reed *Elizabeth Suther *Justin Outlaw *Cody Walker

See YOU on Saturday!