Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Outside City Hall's Spring street steps, a perfectly shaped tree awaits lights and decorations. It's set to be lit on Thursday, December 4, as part of a busy week of lightings around Downtown.

The City Hall tree ceremony, hosted by Project Restore, takes place on Thursday evening at 5pm. The invite lists performances by the Charles Dickens Carolers, LA’s BEST Crescent Heights Singers, Huntington Middle School, Hope Institute of Music and the Echo Park Choir.

Just a few hours later, L.A. Live's "Light of the Angels" Christmas show makes its first run at 7pm, continuing with hourly performances. The multi-media show takes place on the Nokia Plaza at L.A. Live.

The Christmas spirit actually kicks off on Monday, though, as the County hosts its tree lighting ceremony at the Music Center. That's if you believe the venue's MySpace page, oddly the lighting doesn't appear on the Music Center website.

On Friday it's El Pueblo's turn, as lights on both the tree and plaza are switched on. Festivities run from 5 - 9pm and include free champurrado (Mexican traditional chocolate drink) and pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread).

Finally, on Saturday at 4pm, Councilman Jose Huizar hosts the 3rd Annual Bridge Lighting and Toy Giveaway on the 4th street bridge (PDF Invite).