For the past 18 years of my existence, the Christmas season was kicked off with watching the annual Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center. Now that I go to college in the city, my roommates and I thought that this event would be the perfect way to spend our Wednesday night. Angst and laundry lined the walls of our dorm room as we imagined every individual light illuminating the frozen crowds below it. When Wednesday finally approached, we devised a plan to successfully travel downtown from the Upper East Side to see this epic event. We were in show mode as the Q opened at Rockefeller Center. However, I immediately felt an aura throughout the air that somehow the tree would yet again be something I saw only on my Twitter timeline. For starters, we had to wait on a line filled with Christmas cheer (and restless New Yorkers) to simply cross over 6th Avenue. Arriving to the general area of the tree was no easy task as my two roommates and I began breaking a sweat as we ran to 5th Avenue. Every corner we rounded was replaced with another ocean of heads. More often than not, we gripped onto each other’s arms to minimize the amount of shoving that was taking place. After about an hour of pacing, being pushed into strangers, and avoiding people saying “you can’t stand here”, the Rockefeller Christmas tree was a faint blur of evergreen.
Being a native New Yorker myself, I already knew people take events like these VERY seriously. Though we did arrive 3 hours early, people that were in front of the tree were most likely freezing there for more than 12 hours. I have nothing but respect for their dedication—I too wanted to see this tree illuminate in person rather than through a screen. Hopefully in the future I can say for myself that I watched the Rockefeller Christmas tree light up in person. I already know my Christmas cheer will be larger than the tree itself and when that day happens I will make sure everyone knows. My suggestion for anyone that may find themselves in this predicament for upcoming years is to check online if there are tickets available. Throughout the sea of people, we found out that you could sign up online to stand in a specific section for no money at all. Talk about a Christmas miracle—free tickets and seeing the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree. I may not have been jolly walking home from midtown but I won’t let that ruin my love for Christmas. I just have to accept that YouTube videos will do for another year.