Christmas in New York: Tips for Enjoying the Season

New York can be a beautiful place around the holidays, and if you’re thinking of visiting family or friends there, there are plenty of sites to see, and things to do. The state may be known for it’s businesses and crowded sidewalks, but everyone, everywhere, can get into the spirit of the season—even the entrepreneurs.
 
The Rockefeller Center (situated in New York City) is known for its annual Christmas tree. The tree is usually between seventy five and ninety feet tall and proportionally wide although the minimum is thirty five feet across. The tree is a Norway spruce, and unfortunately, they don’t often grow to that ratio unless it’s done individually such as in a backyard and not in a tree farm, where they are much smaller so they can fit into homes around the world.
 
The tree is too large to decorate with bulbs, crystals, plastic icicles or other ornaments so it is left alone to stand elegant, strung only in shimmering Christmas lights and a sparkling angel up top. The lights are typically over five miles in length each year. The tree is put up on Remembrance Day. The evening of the thirtieth, after two weeks of preparation, the tree is illuminated in all its glory. This ceremony is usually one dandy of a grand event, with singers and celebrities there for the unveiling.
 
The tree is left up until January sixth (which if you go back through tradition, was also the day that the twelve days of Christmas ended) and then is taken down, one string of lights at a time. Nothing is wasted in the end, since the tree is properly chopped up and donated to the Boy Scouts, and the largest piece is given to the United States Equestrian team in New Jersey to use as an obstacle jump.

The Rockefeller Center is also known for its ice skating rink, which has been home to plenty of famous figure skaters around the globe. Skating at the Rockefeller Center is quite a privilege—and gives you great bragging rights for when you go back home after visiting. The rink can hold one hundred and fifty people at a time, and is one hundred and twenty two feet by fifty nine feet.
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art also holds an annual Christmas tree in honor of the holidays. The tree and its surroundings present an eighteenth century Neapolitan nativity scene, complete with a collection of lifelike attendant figures and decorative silken-clad angels. The tree is also decorated with lit candles rather than string lights, to add to the Baroque theme.
 
Another annual even is the New York Philharmonic coming together for the season. The Philharmonic’s Principal Brass Quintet mixed with the Canadian Brass performs their classics for the holiday. The virtuosity of the players is exquisite, along with glorious pieces such as the Messiah by Handel and other wonderful pieces of the season.
 
Continuing with all the magnificent music in New York, there’s the Jazz at Lincoln Center, with their performance titled for 2005 ‘The Red Hot Holiday Stomp.’ Featuring famed vocalists from around the globe, Jazz at Lincoln Center is bound to get you dancing with the saxophones.
 
There is, of course, another main reason to visit New York around December: the stores, the shops, the boutiques. The clothing is a major attraction, and really, if you are going to go to all the effort of flying through shop and shop, you want to be able to flaunt it at Christmas in front of the relatives. Or if your newest outfit was a gift, then your visit just won’t be complete until you have paraded it around the block.
 
Not all performances need to be annual either. Around the holidays, there’s usually a version of Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker’ playing at a nearby theater just for you. Try a matinee and take the kids, or go in the evening and enjoy the music with the hubby and friends.
 
Whatever you decide to do, keep the spirit of the season and mind, and a heavy coat with you at all times. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!