WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Rare ornaments decorate art museum's Christmas tree

Rare ornaments decorate art museum's Christmas tree

By Monica Hernandez - bio | email | twitter

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - If you're looking for a Christmas tree with a "wow" factor, you may not have to look very far.

The Mississippi Museum of Art says its tree is unlike anything else in the area.

The 16 foot tree has over 150 rare ornaments, including Italian figurines from the 18th century.

Jewell Younger Graeber of Marks, Mississippi, spent over 20 years collecting the figurines in hopes that they would eventually be on display for the children of Mississippi.

"Really, you could stand here and look at it all day and not see all the details here," said Joanna Biglane McNeel, registrar for the MS Museum of Art. "Every time you come to it, you find something new and something different."

Graeber was inspired by a similar tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This marks the second year the Bethlehem Tree is on exhibit in Mississippi.

The official tree lighting ceremony is December 1st, with hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar at 5:15 PM. The program begins at 5:45 PM and is free to the public.

For more information, call the museum at (601) 960-1515.

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