(SOUTH ORANGE, NJ) -- Grab your blue Santa hats as Seton Hall University marks its 15th annual Christmas at the Hall celebration with its renowned Tree Lighting Ceremony on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, on the University Green on the South Orange Campus. This free festive celebration promises an evening filled with holiday cheer, featuring live performances, seasonal treats and a chance to join in the spirit of giving. The event begins at 6:00pm.
Known for its festive cheer, Seton Hall continues the tradition of bringing holiday cheer to the community with its Christmas program, which has consistently been recognized as No.1 for Christmas—and ranked the best college in America for "Holiday Events" by Best College Reviews and has the “Most Cheerful Christmas Traditions” by Academic Influence.
In the spirit of joy and in celebration of their faith tradition, the University community will begin the festivities by offering a Christmas at the Hall Mass at 5:00pm in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, with Monsignor Joseph R. Reilly, University President, as the main celebrant, assisted by Father Nicholas Sertich, Father Colin Kay, Father John Dennehy, and Father Nicholas Figurelli, immediately followed by the Nativity Blessing at the Crèche.
Setonians, friends, family and members of the community will then gather in a sea of Seton Hall blue at 6:00pm on the University Green for the traditional Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony that includes hot cocoa and candy canes, Santa hats and a special prayer to bless the tree and all those in attendance by Father Colin Kay.
A highlight of the evening will feature emcees Winston Roberts, assistant vice president of Student Services and dean of Student Engagement, and Kai Hansen, senior and president of the SGA, who will invite attendees to count down to the actual lighting ceremony as they pull a special switch to electrify the night to the cheers of the crowd.
Students can also take advantage of photo opportunities with the halo structure in the center of the Green and snow machines that will make it feel like a winter wonderland. Helping to spread the holiday joy are Grounds Director Jeffrey J. Truskowski and his team spend 15 days to decorate the impressive 75-foot-tall Norway Spruce for Christmas.
This year’s ceremony will be both in-person and available through livestream, so Pirates from near and far can feel part of this campus tradition. With the assistance of many student volunteers, those on site can enjoy live performances from talented campus groups, including the Seton Hall University Theatre Council, Seton Hall Sapphires and Seton Hall Pep Band, among others.
The Division of Volunteer Efforts (DOVE) is running its annual Love Thy Neighbor: DOVE Toy Drive benefiting several schools and agencies in Newark, the Maplewood-South Orange School District and the Don Bosco Youth Center. In addition to local sites, DOVE donates gifts for impoverished children in Appalachia, West Virginia, as they have done for over 25 years. Each year, members of our Seton Hall network donate upwards of 1,500 toys for children in need.
“I have the unique opportunity to deliver some of these gifts directly to West Virginia, where we throw a Christmas party for local families. From this experience, I would like to share that while the look on a child’s face when receiving a gift is a beautiful thing, there is an even deeper appreciation in the faces of the parents,” says Amanda Cavanagh, director of DOVE. “The comfort, support, hope and joy that these parents feel in seeing their children happy is indescribable. For families struggling to put food on the table, these gifts would have been an impossibility for them to provide for their children. They feel relieved from the burden of not being able to make ‘Christmas happen’ for their children and feel even more support from the community than most people realize.”
Donations can be dropped off at a tent during the Tree Lighting Ceremony or at the DOVE office in Boland Hall (9:00am to 5:00pm on Monday through Friday). DOVE is also accepting monetary donations to support the toy drive here. The first 500 DOVE Toy Drive donors will receive a blue Santa hat as a gift for their contribution. It is also DOVE Mission Night, where volunteers will gather in the Campus Ministry Lounge in Boland Hall to prepare snack bags for elementary school children in need of weekend meals.
KNOW MORE, an initiative of the Dean of Students Office, will also be doing a Giving Tree for JBWS, a private, nonprofit agency that provides safety, support and solutions for abuse for anyone who lives or works in primarily Morris County, NJ, and faces the issues of intimate partner abuse. Those who wish to donate can select a gift tag from the tree outside on the second floor of the University Center, which includes information such as gift type and due date. All gifts can be brought unwrapped to University Center Room 214 during normal business hours. When the gift is dropped off, please tape the gift tag to the gift.
Families and parents—don’t forget to visit the Family Tent to receive a Seton Hall tree ornament, write holiday cards to your students, receive some holiday treats, and support our Giving Tuesday campaign.
The Hospitality of Advent Daily Reflections - In preparation for this season of hope, love, and joy, sign up for daily reflection emails from Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. Authored by the community of ICSST, this year's series explores and considers how Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and other great figures of the Gospels and Church tradition welcomed Jesus into their hearts. Subscribe today to receive emails from the first Sunday of Advent, December 3, through Christmas Eve.
Seton Hall University Theatre Presents: 1964 Christmas Television Spectacular. This Christmas season, join them as they throwback to when TV variety shows reigned supreme from 8:00pm to 10:00pm on December 6, at the University Center Theatre. Their ensemble will perform original comedy sketches, yuletide songs and welcome special guests in this recreation of a live television taping. You will also get to see what happens behind-the-scenes during the commercial breaks. Written and directed by Chris Aurilio, performances are free to the public.
Christmas Toolkit - For extra festive fun, check out the Christmas Toolkit, complete with digital backgrounds, coloring sheets, lawn signs and more to get in the holiday spirit before the Tree Lighting Ceremony. The Christmas Toolkit also includes the Deck the Hall Spotify Playlist with the community's favorite holiday tunes.
The general public and entire University community are invited to the annual Christmas Tree Lighting, at no cost, with all activities taking place outdoors on the University Green on the South Orange Campus, 400 South Orange Ave., South Orange, NJ. Visitors can also explore Seton Hall’s beautifully decorated campus and enjoy the holiday ambiance that makes this event one of the most anticipated of the year.
More information about Christmas at The Hall events and the Christmas Tree Light Ceremony is available here.
One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall has been showing the world what great minds can do since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous academic programs, Seton Hall’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, US News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek. Seton Hall embraces students of all religions and prepares them to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, it has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth and a more than110-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. Seton Hall students and alumni have received more than 30 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors, including Boren Awards, Pickering Fellowships, Udall Scholarships and a Rhodes Scholarship. The University is also proud to be among the most diverse national Catholic universities in the country. A new independent economic analysis of the University found that Seton Hall provides a significant impact on New Jersey's economy, totaling over $1.6 billion annually and creating and sustaining nearly 10,000 jobs. In recent years, the University has invested more than $165 million in new campus buildings and renovations. The University's beautiful main campus in suburban South Orange, New Jersey, is only 14 miles from New York City -- offering students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. Seton Hall's nationally recognized School of Law is located prominently in downtown Newark. The University’s Interprofessional Health Sciences (IHS) campus in Clifton and Nutley, New Jersey, houses Seton Hall’s College of Nursing, its School of Health and Medical Sciences as well as the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
