It is impossible for a New Yorker to ignore the fact that December is a festive month. The entrepreneurs literally pull out all the stops to attract customers and not without success. The shopping starts on “Black Friday”. When the doors of some department stores open the day after Thanksgiving, there are already lines of people ready to sprint for that one special offer they may have been waiting for all year. This year too, the best-selling items are electronics and people literally run each other over for a $400 laptop.
Despite all the commotion, it is still nice to see how big Christmas is celebrated here. Manhattan in particular makes a party of it. The Christmas season is traditionally heralded by the lighting of the lights on Rockefeller Plaza in the heart of the city. That is quite an event. Thousands of people come from far and wide to experience this up close. With a skating show, live performances by artists such as Cheryl Crow and Earth, Wind and Fire, the audience is kept warm and slowly but surely led to the climax, when the Christmas lights are switched on.
The beauty of this tradition was born out of a spontaneous outpouring of proud construction workers during the Great Depression of 1931. Rockfeller Plaza was still a construction site at the time and the workers were installing the first Christmas tree as a symbolic light for these dark days. This year, the 40,000 lights on the nine-ton, 74-foot-tall Christmas tree were made by children who ended up in New York City as a result of Katrina.
The market at Union Square
If you think you've seen it all, you're wrong. The Manhattan shop windows are a feast in themselves, but for me it's the Christmas markets that really give the city a festive look. The stalls in Union Square and Bryant Park all look inviting. The colorful creativity they radiate makes you want to stop everywhere. Whether it's dolls, soap, "bling bling" or candles.
The market at Union Square
This year even the weather is cooperating. Although a white Christmas can look romantic, it is much more practical and fun without snow and not so cold that your ears freeze off. Of course everyone has their own preferences. In any case, I wish all kroeshaar.com visitors a Merry Christmas, Merry Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and a blessed 2006. Until next year!