From alumni and their toddlers to staff and students, the Valparaiso University community was in a jolly mood Tuesday evening as they came together for the 11th annual campus tree lighting.
Harre Union was the site of several stations offering traditional Christmas fun. Loretta and John Frank, of Valparaiso, were hamming it up at the photo booth with their three grown daughters and three grandchildren.
“I’m a longtime employee,” said John Frank, who’s worked at VU for 42 years.
His daughter Alicia Cooper is an adjunct professor in the Education Department. Her three children, Lucas, Andrew, and Eleanor, were sorting through two long tables of props. “I did the cheerleader and the princess,” said 5-year-old Eleanor.
“We started with the first grandbaby,” said Loretta Frank of the annual family tradition.
“My sister has pictures with this lovely backdrop from when we started coming with him,” said Cooper, gesturing to 13-year-old Lucas.
The next room over, VU MBA student and transfer admission counselor Emilly De Vita and her friend Elizabeth Messerschmidt, a ‘24 graduate, were decorating cookies.
“Lizzy’s VU royalty. Her whole family has graduated from here,” De Vita said as she piped icing.
“My dad was an alum of Valpo and he took my mom to the Valpo Christmas Concert on their third date,” Messerschmidt said.
“It’s so nice,” De Vita added of the festive atmosphere. She’s at the tree lighting for the second year in a row. “I love Christmas. I’m so homesick and it makes me feel like home.”
Across the Union, a group of old friends gathered around the line to visit Santa. The former sports management majors get together for the tree lighting every year.
“He introduced us,” said Anthony Sansone of his friend Colin Terrill, who introduced him to his wife Lexi Sansone in a sports law class.
Terrill and his wife Heather, of Valparaiso, brought their daughter Olivia, two and a half, to see Santa for the first time. “No tears,” said Colin Terrill.
“I know. You’ve never had a candy cane before,” Heather Terrill said to their daughter, who was waving the candy around. “She’s going to be so sticky.”
Eventually, the crowds moved outdoors, serenaded by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Outgoing VU President Jose Padilla said a few words before the tree was lit.
“This means a lot because this is our very last Christmas lighting ceremony,” he said after introducing his wife and daughter. “You will be big deals someday,” he added, encouraging them to remember what’s important.
After a countdown that perhaps served to inflate expectation, a simple red, white, and green strand of lights sparsely wound its way up the live pine. “I thought it was going to be brighter,” said one young boy.
“She’s beautiful. She’s still beautiful,” conceded a woman near him as the fraternity sang “Joy to the World.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
