Campus Lighting Ceremony & All-School Christmas Party to Start Seasonal Festivities

More than 200,000 Twinkling Lights to Kick-off the Christmas Season at HSU All-School Christmas Party and tree lighting ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, December 5, 2013, at Hardin-Simmons University.The evening starts at 5 p.m. with a Christmas buffet feast for students, faculty/staff, and family members in the dining area in Moody Center. The party around HSU’s central pond and in the 60’x60’ event tent will follow the campus lighting set to happen around 6:30 p.m. {{more}}The tree lighting ceremony is a long-honored tradition at HSU. Facilities services director, Tim McCarry, says maintenance workers and a local tree-lighting service started stringing the buildings and trees with light strands several weeks ago. “It takes at least a solid three weeks to string all of the lights. Our goal is to be 99% done by Thanksgiving,” says McCarry. He admits that he doesn’t know the exact number of bulbs that light the campus, but says it’s easily over 200,000.