From all the candy canes and cookies in First Congregational Church’s Fellowship Hall Saturday night after Wiscasset lit its tree, Deb Foster picked a gingerbread man. “You can’t get more Christmas-y than that,” she said; in the Wiscasset woman’s other hand, a cup of hot chocolate helped take the chill off after the ceremony on the common.

Foster hadn’t been in years, but this year, granddaughters Mikaela Widbiller and Xoe Morse, both 10, were singing.

“They sang beautifully. But I forgot my gloves, so it was cold.”

It was also the first tree-lighting in three years with snow cover, longtime emcee Jeff Grosser said in introducing the public school chorus’s rendition of “Winter Wonderland.” Leading into “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” he said it was probably the crowd’s favorite every year.

He knows. In an interview as he and Parks and Recreation’s Bob McDonald set up the sound, Grosser estimated he has been emceeing the event about 35 years. And every year, it’s still a pleasure he looks forward to, Grosser said.

McDonald had just treated the walk Santa Claus would be taking up the common. Instead of gathering near the chorus, with inches of snow from last week and a fresh coat overnight, attendees took in the concert from the side and further down the common. Then behind them swept a Wiscasset fire truck’s red lights. Grosser announced Santa was here. And next came the white lights of cameras flashing as Santa worked his way through the crowd, stopping throughout to meet with children. 

Wiscasset’s Levon and Kim Travis and children L.J., 15, Nick, 13, Ella, 9, and Anna, 6, brought a new family member with them this year, French bull dog-pug puppy Rocky. Kim said L.J. and Nick have sung at Wiscasset tree-lightings. This time, Ella was. Before the concert, she and fellow singers rehearsed in the church. They sat in pews as Carole Drury led them through the songs. Grosser later told the crowd Drury and her fellow Wiscasset music teacher Kim Brewer worked on the concert.

“Nice,” Drury said after students rehearsed “Frosty the Snowman.” 

“OK, the next one is ‘Winter Wonderland.’ Can we please stand – for ‘Winter Wonderland.’”