{"id":19777,"date":"2017-04-30T21:34:27","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=19777"},"modified":"2023-12-28T13:15:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T18:15:37","slug":"2023-christmas-in-hackensack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=19777","title":{"rendered":"2023 – Christmas in Hackensack"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>………………………………………<\/span>(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 18, 2023)<\/p>\n

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On Thanksgiving, I posted about a long, productive photowalk I took on November 15. At the stroll\u2019s midpoint, I happened to stumble across 4 trucks whose elevated workers were busy in the trees of the small park known as The Green – across from the Bergen County Courthouse (on the right and not visible):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NOTE: about half of these images – including the above one – are panoramic shots, so click \u2018em all to see which ones enlarge.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I had seen this upper arboreal activity before, so I knew they were stringing lights for Christmas:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Smart of the worker to wear a mask for protection from Tree Covid.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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This was the invitation for the Tree Lighting ceremony on December 4:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I knew the Christmas tree wouldn\u2019t be lit up beforehand, but I wondered if the other trees were – maybe as a tease to get people interested in showing up on the 4th\u00a0 – so I drove down to The Green on December 2:<\/span><\/p>\n

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As expected, the park was fairly dark\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.except for the northeast corner, which – for some reason – had one tree lit up:<\/span><\/p>\n

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But I noticed some holiday-type light coming from Court Plaza, across from the Courthouse on Main St. The entrance:<\/span><\/p>\n

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HUGE ornaments\u00a0\u00a0 (I\u2019m trying not to say \u201cBIG BALLS\u201d)<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

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A different angle with the Courthouse behind them:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Stepping back lets me include their lit tree and the big gift package that the ornaments are sitting on <\/span>(maybe the gift package contains all the lights for The Green’s tree?)<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

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This might be my most Christmasy shot of the season (but I won\u2019t know that for 2 more days).<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that was unexpectedly festive!<\/span><\/p>\n

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December 4: On to The Green!<\/span><\/p>\n

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5:30pm: The tree\u2019s not lit yet and no one seems to know exactly when that will occur between now and 8pm.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing I notice is a wagon with all kinds of sparkly stuff in it being pulled along a sidewalk. I HAD to get a shot of that, but a short video would have been better, considering all the sparkling that was going on:<\/span><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s more festive than Santa\u2019s sleigh? The old Hackensack trolley that was parked on Court St, across from the Bergen County Courthouse:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

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On the Main St side:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(I should have taken this AFTER the tree was lit)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hey – it\u2019s that glitter wagon again! What\u2019s more festive than that next to Bad Ass Coffee?<\/span><\/p>\n

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(ummm\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..everything<\/em>?)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Right in the middle of the park was a dead Santa, awaiting burial. Oh well – there are lots more around to replace him:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Would somebody please close his eyes? It\u2019s creepy!)<\/span><\/p>\n

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I didn\u2019t hear the introduction, but I think it\u2019s a safe bet that this is the Hackensack High School Choir:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I was up front, but could hardly hear them. My guess is that 3 microphones doesn\u2019t cut it for all those singers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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And the Hackensack High School Ginger People had NO mics!<\/span><\/p>\n

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But that\u2019s OK (ever try to sing while smiling with your mouth closed?)<\/span><\/p>\n

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After the Ginger People\u2019s stirring rendition of \u201cThe Sounds Of Silence\u201d, I found an interesting table where kids could pick out holiday sayings and have them stamped onto a wearable button:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Finally, at 6:30pm the tree(s) were lit:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That last one was taken from the top step of the Bergen County Courthouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Two more trolley PANOs – this time with lit trees behind it:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Back to the stage for the headliner – Santa and the kids (as the next Mom and child awaited their turn in the far corner):<\/span><\/p>\n

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BTW, the Ginger Kids were not allowed to sit on Santa\u2019s lap\u2026\u2026\u2026..too many crumbs (plus, it was dangerous – Santa hadn’t eaten dinner yet).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Actually, no one sat on Santa\u2019s lap. All the little kids (and one big one) stood next to him, talked and waved to the camera:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\"\"\" \"\" \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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A very wide PANO of the whole scene:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Elmo tries to make friends with a cute dog, whose owner seems to have her doubts. The pooch isn\u2019t interested. Maybe he\u2019s allergic to Sesame:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Elmo has better luck with a less-discerning human:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hey – who\u2019s that guy taking a picture? If I’m in it, I want a copy of me and Elmo! (I can erase the middleman)<\/span><\/p>\n

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A few more lights and trees:<\/span><\/p>\n

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A lit tree with a lit Courthouse:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Heavy-duty protection for the event (hey – we don\u2019t mess around……………as long as the problem comes from the east – otherwise, we’re screwed):<\/span><\/p>\n

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The last two far-and-near shots of the Christmas tree:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I think this is may be the “dead” Santa we saw earlier. Maybe I should go before he recognizes the guy who wanted to bury him.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A frozen smurf un-greets me as I leave:<\/span><\/p>\n

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But we\u2019re not done yet. I wanted to see what this looked like without the crowds and festivities, so I went back on December 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

It looked like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Looks pretty good to me\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n

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Walking across Court St gave me this view from the Main St side of the Bergen County Courthouse:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I have to say that I found this close pairing to be quite unique:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I looked online and could find only one<\/u> picture in Google Images – from a dual-religion married couple – that showed both the cr\u00e8che and the menorah right<\/em> next to each other in the same image (two others were separated):<\/span><\/p>\n

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So congratulations, Bergen County………….except for the fact that one of the “candles” is unlit and it’s December 16 (the last night of Hanukkah was December 15).
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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I think it’s time to go home.<\/span><\/p>\n

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After I parked my car, I noticed this in the front view of the apartment building next door to where I park – 3 floors of Christmas:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I went to another nearby apartment building to see what they had\u2026\u2026\u2026.nothing. But as soon as I turned around, I saw this at the church that\u2019s next to my building (which is on the far right):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Before I could get to my building, I visited yet another<\/em> church that\u2019s right across the street and that\u2019s where I took my final Christmas in Hackensack photo:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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At this point, I\u2019m kinda Christmased-out (and there\u2019s still a week to go!), so let me wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM HACKENSACK and an extremely<\/em> Happy New Year!<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ………………………………………(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 18, 2023)   On Thanksgiving, I posted about a long, productive photowalk I took on November 15. At the stroll\u2019s midpoint, I happened to stumble across 4 trucks whose elevated workers were busy in the trees of the small park known as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19777"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19872,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777\/revisions\/19872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}