Each year in early December, Chelsea has a weekend packed full of Christmas-related festivities. No, wait: “packed full” isn’t a strong enough phrase for the weekend’s schedule. Clowns in a Smart Car? Commuters on a New York City subway at rush hour? Pixels on an 18mp APS-C sensor? They have acres of space compared to the schedule for Chelsea’s Hometown Holidays weekend. There are events on top of events on top of events on top of Christmas cheer.

Like previous years, I was tasked to photograph a sampling of events from the weekend. Unlike previous years, I had to photograph the hectic weekend immediately after returning from my 10-day trip to Albuquerque. So yeah, I was a little ragged, but it still was a fun weekend.

The weekend always begins with the tree lighting in Pierce Park.

The past couple tree lighting ceremonies took place on frigid cold nights during snowstorms, but this year’s ceremony occurred on a surprisingly mild evening. That weather attracted an even better crowd than usual.

(No, wise guy, that’s not the whole crowd.)

The Chelsea Fair Queen showed up to help Santa flip the switch to light the tree.

The park looked much more festive after the ceremony.

Afterwards, Pam from The Office showed up at the Chelsea Farmer’s Supply to read books to kids.

No, no, I’m just kidding. That’s actually Robin, a librarian from the Chelsea library. Despite plenty of distractions and noise, she did a good job of staying focused on the book.

Speaking of the library, there was a live nativity not far from the library.

Hey! Put down the phone. Relax. Don’t call your lawyer. The nativity wasn’t at the library. It was by a church.

However, the library did host a concert by the Common Chords handbell choir.

And for those who were hungry for a little food and a little music, Back to the Roots had live music.

Up next: gingerbread houses, Christmas lights and teddy bears.