East Texas Medical Center Tyler will celebrate its 21st annual Christmas tree lighting on Tuesday, December 2, on the hospital's front lawn. At 5:00 p.m. Santa Claus will arrive on his sleigh with two real reindeer. The Owens Elementary school choir will sing Christmas carols. The treelighting ceremony begins at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Santa and the reindeer will greet children from 5-7 p.m. If you would like to have a picture with Santa, please bring your own camera.

KLTV Chief Meteorologist Mark Scirto will light the tree. This year, moments before he was about to go on the news he collapsed at the television station. He was rushed to ETMC by ETMC EMS where physicians discovered a brain tumor. The benign tumor was successfully removed by physicians with the ETMC Neurological Institute.

Scirto first joined KLTV in 1987 as the daybreak show meteorologist. In 1991, he moved to KPLC in Lake Charles, Louisiana before returning to KLTV as Chief Meterologist in 1994. Scirto has won numerous awards from the Associated Press including Best Weathercast and has been nominated for a Lone Star Emmy award. Mark is a member of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. His wife Beth is a school teacher at Bishop T.K. Gorman Middle School. The Scirtos have four children and one grandchild, with another on the way!