One of my favorite things to do in New York is to go to obnoxious places when no one (read: tourists) is around. Times Square is deliciously surreal at 1am, and, as Caroline and I discovered on Wednesday night, so is Rockefeller Center.
Rockefeller Center lights its world famous Christmas tree on the first Wednesday of December. People line up and camp out beginning in the early morning hours, just to catch a glimpse of someone flipping an LED (yay green!) light switch. This seems unnecessary to me. However, being a part of the evening is something special if you like the holidays.
Following a particularly successful evening at Wine Down on the Lower East Side, Caroline and I were riding the subway uptown when an impulse struck to see the tree. We walked through the rain and cheered when we realized that the tree was newly lit and most spectators were gone. The scaffolding was still up, and the stage was being dismantled. Naturally, Caro and I do not wait in lines or shuffle along sidewalks behind tourists, so we edged past a barricade, where we were stopped by a very tall, strong, and if memory serves, handsome policeman in a really neat hat.
"Ladies," he said, "you can't come through here. It's closed off until everything is taken apart." Caroline, nonplussed, replied, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure," he said. "But we're New Yorkers, it's okay," Caroline countered. He then assured us that nobody was actually allowed to be behind the barricade, not even New Yorkers. Nonetheless, we moved in further, and positioned ourselves in front of the tree. We asked him to take a picture of us before we went on our merry way. He laughed and obliged. Others who tried to follow our example were brutally rebuffed. We were the special ones who got to break the rules for a photographic moment of holiday glory.
As we trotted back to the subway through the pouring rain, we had what Caroline called "An Audrey Moment," which I suppose meant a late night New York moment whilst wearing cute clothes in the rain. I think I spoiled the moment when I insisted on not just a high-5, but a high-10, and proceeded to play air drums to "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," which I was singing.
The evening ended on a lovely note of garlic naan and cheese eggs.
It is for this Holiday "Audrey" Moment, and in honor of that wonderfully gracious and obliging officer in Rockafella Center, that I present the 3rd Submission in the Holiday Throwdown:
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree tradition began in 1931, during the Great Depression. Workers who had cleared the site for the building of Rockefeller Center decided their work site needed a bit more holiday cheer, so they adopted a balsam fur tree and decked it out in all the shiny things they had on hand. Since then, the tree has grown much bigger.
The Rock Center Tree Committee takes a ride in a helicopter and spies on unsuspecting properties in the tri-state area. A tree is spotted, chosen, paid for, decorated, and admired by all. When the holidays are over, about a week after New Year's, the tree is taken down and recycled. In recent years, the lumber has been used to make homes for Habitat for Humanity.
Every time I see the tree I think about Kevin McAllister, and his farcical inability to have a vacation with his family. At the end of an exhausting evening of unlawful entry, destruction of property, and catching bad guys, he goes to the tree at Rockefeller Center and asks the tree to grant him one Christmas wish: to be reunited with his mother (his 27 siblings are expendable). He promises to be well-behaved if he's granted his wish. Suddenly, he hears his name being called out, and it's mom. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it. Christmas is saved, and it's all thanks to the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
As much as I would love to be Scrooge-y about this submission, I really do like the tree. Walking down Fifth Avenue late at night when the out-of-towners are gone is just heavenly. It's the most lovely time to believe in magic and to make a wish upon a tree.
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