Thousands enjoy 67th annual Macy's Great Tree lighting

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ATLANTA — Thousands of people flocked to Lenox Square Mall Thursday night for the 67th annual lighting of the Macy's Great Tree.

The night consisted of performances by The Isley Brothers, The Pentatonix  and Georgia's own Timothy Miller who sang "O Holy Night" during the finale of the pre-show to light the Great Tree.

The night ended with fireworks to usher in the holiday season.

The Great Tree is 56-feet tall and sits on top of Macy's at Lenox square.

The tree contains 45,000 LED twinkling lights, more than 8 miles of light strings, and a giant star perched on top.

The Great Tree lighting was just one of many tradition people in the metro area enjoyed Thursday.

An army of volunteers helped feed thousands of people for the annual Hosea Feed the Hungry Thanksgiving dinner.

It is a 44-year tradition for the organization that works to make sure individuals and families throughout metro Atlanta don't go hungry or spend the holidays alone. Volunteers filled the DeKalb County Jail Wednesday preparing more than 1,000 turkeys, two pallets of dressing and 500 pounds of rice and gravy. All of the food was donated to the organization.

"We do care and I want that message to go across our nation. Here in Atlanta, I don't know what they're doing in other places, but we care for our people, and we love on them and we look after our own in Atlanta," said Afemo Omilami, with Hosea Feed the Hungry.

Millions of Americans are expected to head to the stores for holiday gift shopping on Thanksgiving in what's quickly becoming a new holiday tradition.

Just a few years ago when a few stores started opened late on the holiday, the move was met with resistance from workers and shoppers who believed the day should be sacred.

Last year, more than dozen major retailers opened at some point on Thanksgiving evening. And this year, at least half of them — including Target, Macy's, Staples and J.C. Penney — are opening earlier in the holiday evening.

The Thanksgiving openings are one way retailers are trying to compete for Americans' holiday dollars. In years past, Black Friday was when they'd focus their sales promotions. But increasingly, they've been pushing those promotions earlier on Friday — and eventually into the holiday itself — to grab deal-hungry shoppers' attention.

The National Retail Federation expects 25.6 million shoppers to take advantage of the Thanksgiving openings, down slightly down from last year.