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Nicknamed 'the queen of the forest' before it is ceremoniously felled and shipped to the UK, Trafalgar Square's Norwegian spruce is gifted to us each year by the people of Norway as a thank you for Britain's support during WWII. This year's 25-metre tall, 55-year-old incarnation will be erected by hydraulic crane in time for the lighting ceremony on Thursday at 6pm, when its pretty vertical strings of lights will be switched on by the lord mayor of Westminster, the British ambassador to Norway and the mayor of Oslo. The Salvation Army and St Martin-in-the-Fields choir will provide the carols. More festive music will fill the square every afternoon from Sunday December 6 until December 23 (4pm-8pm weekdays, 2pm-6pm weekends) when a packed schedule of more than 50 carol singing groups will raise money for a wide variety of good causes. Overall a far better reason to feel festive than a certain department store's Christmas ad.
Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN. Thu Dec 3-Jan 3. Free.