Students, alumni and special guests celebrated “A Neighborhood Christmas” and welcomed the season to Biola on Friday night, December 5, with a tradition that’s an annual favorite-the lighting of the University Christmas tree.

La Mirada city council member Steve Jones, a 1970 Biola graduate, and Rick Bee, senior director of Alumni and Friends Development, were on hand to flip the switch that lit the tree and officially opened the holiday season on campus.

Guests enjoyed special music by the Kings’ Men, as well as singing along with several familiar carols. A scriptural mosaic of the birth of Jesus-including Old Testament prophecies, New Testament commentary, and the Christmas narrative from Luke 2-rounded out the evening.

A highlight of the Tree Lighting was La Mirada’s very own private “snowfall.”