Boston Christmas tree about to make journey from Nova Scotia

FILE-This Dec. 4, 2008 file photo shows with the Statehouse dome off in the background, the Boston Common Christmas tree glows shortly after a it's seasonal lighting in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

BOSTON — The Christmas tree that will be displayed in the Boston Common is getting ready to make its journey from Nova Scotia.

The 46-foot white spruce donated by Ross McKellar and Teresa Simpson from Oxford, Nova Scotia will be cut down during a ceremony on Thursday.

On Nov. 20, the Boston Police Department will escort the tree from Billerica to the Boston Common. The tree will be greeted by an official Nova Scotia town crier, Santa Claus and schoolchildren.

A tree lighting ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 29.

Nova Scotia donates a tree to Boston each year as a token of thanks for relief efforts undertaken by Bostonians after a munitions ship exploded in Halifax Harbor in 1917, killing or injuring thousands of people.