As we are now in December and the holiday season is truly starting, everyone around the world has to remember that NYC has some of the best celebrations for any kind of holiday. The best way to start off the holidays in NYC is always watching the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting. Whether you watch the tree lighting in person or from the comfort of your home, it’s always a tradition for New Yorkers to enjoy the tree lighting, even if you don’t get the chance to watch the performances and just watch the tree getting lit up itself. However, there can’t be a tree lighting without any performances to enjoy on the wonderful winter night. Here is a breakdown of this year’s tree lighting and some of the best moments of the night.
For starters, you can’t have the tree lighting without NBC’s best anchors who help host, not only the tree lighting, but other amazing events in New York City – like the Thanksgiving Day parade. It’s always a pleasure seeing Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker since they always are fan favorites to host these events, especially since my generation have been seeing these people host these events for such a long time now. However, I will say that it was weird to not have Hoda Kotb be a part of this event since she left NBC news this past year. This is a change that many will have to get used to since everyone loved her as part of these events, but that doesn’t mean that this event and many more to come won’t be enjoyable. It was a nice treat that we got to see Kotb helping to host the Thanksgiving parade, but it would have been nice if she was able to make it to the tree lighting as well.
Of course, one of the best parts of the tree lightning has to be all of the performances that you get to see before the tree lightning itself. It wouldn’t be a surprise if people watch the tree lighting just for the performances. One of the best and memorable performances of this year’s tree lighting was Marc Anthony’s. His performance was the most talked about throughout social media and the Latino community. As a Puerto Rican and being a part of the Latino community myself, this was definitely a wonderful surprise, especially since New York City is known for having so much Latino culture and diversity. Anthony performed his own rendition of one of the most popular Christmas songs, “Feliz Navidad,” along with his most popular songs within the Latino community, “Vivir Mi Vida.” It definitely got the party started with people dancing and going crazy with both of these performances no matter how cold it was outside. I believe that these performances will be talked about for a long time and definitely has helped hype up the tree lighting in the future since it’s kinda not the same feeling as it was before due to COVID. I will forever cherish and remember Anthony for bringing out community and culture in a popular event that doesn’t always demonstrate culture within the NYC community.
Speaking of amazing performances, how can you not have the tree lighting without The Radio City Rockettes? The Rockettes obviously stole the show with their wonderful dance routine and their fabulous outfits. The ladies’ outfits were truly spectacular with the red, white, and green tops while having gold skirts that were short but kind of poofy. Not to mention their adorable headbeads that had bows just like the little bows on their tops. The Rockettes will always have a place in my heart, especially during Christmas time because they are always working very hard to make their performances during Christmas time very magical and memorable for everyone. One thing is for sure, the Rockettes will make sure to always have unique and beautiful outfits while performing, along with always making sure that the dances that they perform will be new and special every year so that we can have the same performers, but always have updates and new dances for everyone to enjoy.
Now the moment we all have been waiting for, how was the grand finale of lighting up the tree? Three words, spectacular, beautiful, and shiny. The tree, as always, brings so much joy once it gets lit up. I love how the tree is basically like a shiny rainbow since they use as many colors as they can to make it bright and beautiful. I will say though, it would be nice if they start switching up colors and themes when decorating the tree. There is talk about the tree always being the same which could make it get boring; that is definitely something I would have to agree on.
However, at the end of the day, the tree will always be memorable and something to always look forward to when Christmas time comes around. I hope that when life settles down for me and isn’t too crazy, I get the chance to actually go in person and get to watch the tree lighting. I believe that going in person to see the tree lighting is something that everyone should get to experience at least once in their life with all of the performances and getting the chance to see The Rockettes up close. But until then, I will keep on enjoying the tree lighting at home since it is a tradition for me to watch no matter the circumstances. Now that you’ve read about this year’s tree lighting, don’t just sit back, go out and see for yourself how wonderful and beautiful the tree truly is because you can enjoy seeing the tree even without watching it get lit up. Don’t walk, run to Rockefeller Center to enjoy the beauty of the tree before this Christmas season is over and you have to wait a whole year to get the chance to see the tree. Enjoy, and happy holidays to all!