Allston Christmas (*actual)

The tree is up at Jackson Mann! I think it gets all gussied 'n lighted up this weekend. The school kids make ornaments, the city puts lights on and there's usually some kind of lighting ceremony. Me and Joey attended one year when Mayor Menino was still kicking around (I liked him). So this means the Harvard Ave lights are about to flick on for the season. I'll go picture-taking next week. I love Christmas in Rock City! 🎄

*Note. This post was about actual Christmas in Allston. Not Allston Xmas, what Rock City's genial citizenry calls late August/early September. That is a neighborhood-specific season, short but chaotic, as the Sun gets less intense about his work, and single flip-flops begin to materialize in the streets, discarded during some end-of-school-year walk-of-shame just before the students all clear out of Rock City for another year. Year-round residents navigate chock-a-block Uhauls and Riders and out-of-state SUVs piloted by bewildered parents. At all hours the members of this honking horde finally find the Mass Pike entrance and get the hell outta here, and they leave behind their security deposits along with towering piles of books, kitchen appliances, musical instruments, furniture, toys, clothes and whatnot, through which the locals go "picking" or "junking" for what treasure they may seek. I'm pretty good at it. Mark your calendar.