BOSTON -- WCVB-TV Channel 5's Chronicle again rings in the holiday season with Boston's Holiday Lights tree lighting ceremony, a live yuletide spectacular on the Boston Common.

The program, airing live on Thursday, Dec. 3 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., will be hosted by Chronicle's Mary Richardson and Anthony Everett.

This 68th annual Tree-lighting on Boston Common will be hosted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, Nova Scotia Come To Life and media sponsors WCVB-TV Channel 5 and Magic 106.7 FM.

The holiday decorations throughout Boston Common and the Public Garden, including the city’s official Christmas tree, will light up in sequence when Mayor Menino throws the switch with Santa Claus.

The 46-foot white spruce was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Shatford of Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia and selected by Ross Pentz of the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.

The celebration will feature R&B singing sensation Brian McKnight, “American Idol” Season 6 third-place finalist Melinda Doolittle, Scottish singer Maureen McMullan, the Boston Arts Academy Dance Troupe, the Masquerade cabaret troupe, and Magic 106.7’s Nancy Quill and Mike Addams.

Refreshments and fun giveaways will be provided by H.P. Hood LLC, Cabot Creamery, Nantucket Nectars and Snapple beverages, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jazzy Apples, New York Life, RocketBoyz clothing, Bare Naked Granola, Jergens, and 20th Century Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel” in theaters on December 23.

The holiday tree-lighting is made possible through the generosity of the Egan Family in memory of Ambassador Richard J. Egan with additional support provided by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Suffolk University, and Emerson College.

The annual holiday display includes the official City of Boston Christmas tree combined with 40 trees throughout Boston Common. Ten additional trees around the skating rink are sponsored by the Frog Pond Foundation.

This marks the eighth year that Nova Scotia joins with the City of Boston to present the Christmas tree on Boston Common. It is also the 38th year that Nova Scotia has given a tree to the people of Boston as thanks for relief efforts following the December 6, 1917, explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax Harbor.

Within 24 hours of the disaster, a train loaded with supplies and emergency personnel was making its way from Boston to Nova Scotia. This year marks the 92nd anniversary of the Halifax Explosion.

Immediately following the Boston Common tree-lighting, Mayor Menino will join Back Bay residents at Arlington Street for the lighting of Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Two-hundred trees along the Mall will be lighted until April 1 with elegant white lights sponsored for the sixth year through community support and private donations raised by the Committee to Light Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

For more information please call (617) 635-4505 or go to http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/.