Where are My Balls? ...

I was walking through Rittenhouse Square the other day and watched as workers began stringing white lights around the 30 foot high Christmas tree across from the reflecting pool. I quickly scanned the rest of the park and realized that the little colored illuminated balls hanging from the leafless canopy of gray branches criss-crossing above my head were missing. It's usually one of the first signs of the impending Christmas season when you see cranes high up in the trees in mid-November, hanging these balls at various heights, starting from the park entrances and working in towards the center of the park.

This has been a Rittenhouse Square tradition for the better part of the last 6 or 7 holiday seasons, the committee increasing their budget every year to include more and more lighted balls. The first year, the colored spheres dangled over the 4 corner entrances to the park and sort of looked unfinished. But, with each passing year, more and more lights were added until it really started to look spectacular at night, the pavement below cast in warm green, red, blue and yellow glows.

But now, with December barreling down on us with overplayed Christmas music already weeks old, traffic surging towards the area malls, panic setting in to find that perfect gift before the bargain bins are ripped apart, the branches overhead in Rittenhouse Square remain bare and lightless. The Square seems cold and barren, the towering pine with its hundreds of white lights laced through its branches, looks forgotten this holiday season.

I hope it's just an oversight and the lights are going up as I write...