First Look: Boston Common Christmas Tree 2025. Nova Scotia’s 45-foot spruce arrives (video)
So here's your official confirmation that the holidays are upon us.
With Santa Claus at her side, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu welcomed the 2025 Boston Common Christmas Tree to the city on Tuesday.
The arrival of the 45-foot-tall white spruce marks the continuation of decades of friendship, rooted in tragedy, between Boston and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
"Every winter, the most beautiful tree in the oldest park in America is lit up to the delight of all of our Boston families," Wu said on a wind-whipped morning. "In celebration of this partnership and in celebration of the holiday spirit, this is a gift that lights up our Common and lights up our hearts, honoring our partnership and friendship."
In 1917, aid workers from the Bay State's largest city, bearing expertise and supplies, were the first non-Canadians to respond to an event known as the Halifax Explosion .
The massive conflagration, which injured and killed scores of people, was sparked when a supply ship, bound for the Western Front of World War I Europe, collided with another vessel, touching off a massive fireball that flattened nearby buildings and shattered windows as far as two miles away.
"Boston was the first community from outside Canada to send relief. Within 12 hours of finding out what happened, a train of medical personnel, supplies and the bottling up of Boston's spirit set out to try to provide relief for our northern neighbors," Wu said.
"And through a snowstorm, through [the] very difficult journey up there, the train made it and made a difference in providing that bit of emergency relief that was needed. Nova Scotia never forgot and these bonds will continue to persist no matter what's happening in every other part of the world."
The Canadian province sent its first Christmas tree in 1918. The tradition resumed in 1971, and the Maritime province has sent a tree every year since then.
This year's tree was grown and donated by a family from Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. Wu traveled north of the border with her family last week to meet with provincial officials and to participate in the harvesting of the tree.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (R) and Canadian Consul General Bernadette Jordan mark the arrival of the 2025 Boston Common Christmas tree during an event on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.John L. Micek/MassLive
"This is more than a Christmas tree to people from Nova Scotia," Canadian Consul General Bernadette Jordan , who joined Wu at Tuesday's ceremony, said.
"This is a symbol of our enduring relationship between Nova Scotia and Boston," Jordan, a Nova Scotia native, continued. "I have known this story since I was a little girl ... the people of Boston stepped up in our darkest hour to help us, the people of Nova Scotia. And we will never forget that, no matter what happens in the world. That friendship is one that will always be important to us."
The city will light the tree during a ceremony on the Common on Thursday, Dec. 4, that's slated to run from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
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