Holiday preparations

A city of El Paso employee is silhouetted under the afternoon sun as he worked in the basket of a lift to decorate the top of the 54-foot-tall Afghan pine tree at San Jacinto Plaza Tuesday in preparation for the upcoming holiday season. The decorating includes putting in place 10s of thousands of lights and other Christmas decorations. The city will host the 77th annual lighting of the Christmas tree and the lights parade on Saturday Dec. 1. The event is sponsored by Evolve Credit Union.