A Christmas encore

For the second year in a row, the Magee family of Lewes is bringing Christmas cheer to Rehoboth.

Last year, the Magees, Sussex County lifers, donated a tree in honor of Harriett’s late husband, Dale R. Magee. This year, the family had more practical reasons for donating the tree.

Family matriarch Harriett Magee said Delaware Department of Transportation is planning to widen the road in front of her house and the tree would have been cut down.

“We didn’t want to see it just go to the dump,” she said.

The tree began its journey to downtown Rehoboth about 8 a.m., Nov. 17, when workers began cutting down the 25-foot tree at the Magee’s home on Plantations Road.  An hour later, the tree was loaded onto a truck and traveled to the Bandstand in Rehoboth Beach, where volunteers from Delmarva Power put it into place. Over the next two weeks, city workers will decorate the tree in time for the official tree lighting, Friday, Nov. 27.

Last year's tree was 30-feet tall and 25-feet wide and there is still a large circle on the Magee's property where the tree once stood. That tree was the first one Dale R. Magee planted when the family moved to Plantations Road and served as the family Christmas tree for the family's first Christmas in the home.

A third fir tree sits on the Magee's lot, but Harriett and her son, Dale, nicknamed Woody, said it is too small to be used as a Christmas tree. The Magees are planning to be in Rehoboth to take part in the tree-lighting ceremony.

“Last year had a bit more meaning because of my dad passing. This year, we wanted to see somebody use it,” Woody said.

Sponsored by Rehoboth Beach Main Street, the tree lighting has been held in downtown Rehoboth for more 20 years, and the tree was not the only sign that Christmas is coming. As the huge tree was raised into place, Santa's House passed by on its way to the Rehoboth Boardwalk.