Our Christmas Tree in Boston-NOT!

I’m always amused by this Christmas tree giving. Don’t get me wrong– in the scheme of things, it’s harmless. But make no mistake, this has nothing to do with “thanking Boston for help after the Explosion” and everything to do with tourism promotion. How do I know this? Well, the first tree wasn’t given to Boston until 1971, some 54 years after the Explosion. Unless, er, we assume that Nova Scotians who lived between 1914 and 1971 were simply ungrateful bastards… If I were a grad student with too much time on my hands, I’d want to track it down. I’m guessing the tree-giving “tradition” started about the time the Nova Scotia X-mas tree industry was starting to export trees south, but it likely also coincided with one of the half-dozen times the tourism development people changed their target audience (I have some notes on the latter– interesting stuff, really). Still, I wonder what Boston gets out of the deal. Like I said, it’s all completely harmless, but taken just a wee bit too seriously, imo.