Learn how to avoid a not-so-jolly Thursday commute.

The lighting will happen on Wednesday on the ellipse at President’s Park.

Road closures will be in effect tomorrow from 2 p.m. through 9 p.m.

Temporarily get in the competitive seasonal spirit on Friday.

The lighting ceremony will take place on December 4.

Free tickets to the event, once again, will be distributed lottery-style beginning October 31. .

The lottery for tickets to the December 6 National Christmas Tree Lighting opens today at 10 a.m.

DCist photography contributor Kevin Carroll braved the chilly temperatures to bring us these images from the 2010 National Christmas Tree Lighting, in which President Barack Obama and family joined several performers in this annual Washingtonian tradition.

So you missed out on Virgin FreeFest and Daily Show tickets? You have less than seven hours left to test your luck and enter the lottery for a coveted ticket to the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. The lottery closes tonight at midnight (we have no sympathy if you haven’t fixed your clocks by this time) for 3,000 seats and 10,000 standing room admissions to the 5 p.m. free event on December 9. Enter online…

Want to attend the National Christmas Tree Lighting on the Ellipse on December 9? Tickets for 3,000 seats and 10,000 standing room admissions for the 5 p.m. event are free, but will be distributed through a lottery system that goes online at 12:01 a.m. this Thursday, November 4th (okay, technically, since it’s a minute after midnight it’s Friday the 5th — but for most of us that means Thursday night).