Holiday Tree-To-Be

Lights Tonite Between 7pm And 9pm

I gotta say, I was a little turned off when I heard that the tree in Rockefeller Center this year was chosen as an emblematic Sandy survivor. I thought it was a strange way to show the admiration for the great Norwegian Oak's ability to stay upright while so many toppled around him. "Wow, how amazing, let's cut him down"

But then I found out that it had been chosen weeks before Sandy even hit and I guess I feel a little bit better about it. Still seems a bit of a shame, but it does make for a better story. Apparently the old man who so proudly gave up his evergreen for the greater good was so concerned that the storm would take her down and all would be lost. Little children would be so disappointed to see a giant blank space at the end of Angels Avenue where oh tannenbaum should be, or even worse yet, Rockefeller would need to hoist a plastic replica, the likes of which "adorn" so many households nowadays. Christmas, most certainly, would be cancelled.

In the end, the sun rose, the storm subsided and the tree stood. That is until they came to cut down of course. We hope to see it as a family come December the ninth and gawk at its branches and heighth. We hope that it will instill the comfort and joy it has for so many years now, consecutively. We hope that we'll see that homeless guy cutting it up on the ice below again like last year, Kristi Yamaguchi ain't got nothing on this guy.

But either way, it lights tonight above the rink amidst some Rockettes and other "surprise" guests and I suppose Christmas can begin. In my mind at least. I always subconsciously used the event as a sorta starters pistol for the holiday cheer to begin. A little perturbed that it's in November this year as opposed to first week of December like I remember, but it'll do. Besides, I think Christmas is gonna come fast this year so we might as well get on it.