New York is looking for love from the time tested sugar daddy: tourists, who trade on shameless flattery saying how pretty New York is and oh gosh how tall those buildings are and look at those big ol' Christmas trees- you know- they don't have trees like that back home. Little does New York imagine that she's just going to end the holidays fat, eating fruitcake in a corner, having already finished the bon bons, because she had too much eggnog and accidentally let anyone on Broadway who called her pretty.
These are the holidays in New York. I'm of the opinion that they're unnecessarily garish and gauche. Tourists flock here for a piece of Americana, Christmas in the big city- with lots of lights and shows and true holiday spirit and spectacular. As a Manhattanite, this time of year is the antithesis of a Currier and Ives print. The shops put on so much glitz it's as if New York is trying to finally compete with that slutty cousin who gets all the attention (Las Vegas), but this year, we're really going to make a statement. Let's just wear bows and bells and sparkly things all over and pray for love (economic recovery).
In the spirit of the holidays, and my mother's suggestion that they will probably be spent at the bottom of a glass, I've decided to call "game on", and turn the Manhattan holidays into a brutal competition of who can muster up the most holiday spirit.
First submission:
The Radio City Hall Christmas Tree
The Radio City Christmas tree is on display weeks before that other famous tree half a block away (Rock Center). This is because it is fake. It is fiber optic lights in the shape of a tree. If you'll recall, that's the very same type of tree that was called out in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for being a yuletide poseur. As I was walking across Avenue of the Americas, tourists stopped in the crosswalk to snap photos, and marvel at the fact that the tree changed colors. Fiber optics were first displayed in 1840, folks- it's old news.
And that star on top? Not going to lead you to a nativity in Bethlehem, buddy. Nope, it's going to lead you inside the theater to the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular. This staple of the New York holiday tradition celebrates, with light up costumes and a kick-line, the moment when Santa came down the chimney of a manger and gave Baby Jesus as a present to the whole world. They're not trying to be exclusive by calling it the "Christmas" and not the "Holiday" or "Winter" Spectacular- they're just being historical. Light up costumes and kick-lines were part of the birth of Christ- it's in the Bible. The show is a fan favorite with families, and children watch in awe with gaping mouths as they look on and dream that they too might one day be a struggling artist doing high kicks, wearing a leotard with realistic fur trim when it's 30 degrees out.
For more information on the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, how you can get tickets and how best to encourage the dreams of impressionable young people, please visit: http://www.radiocitychristmas.com/
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