WE HAVE A CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!

Is it seriously December?  I know we probably say this every year but WHERE did 2012 go? Here we are in the last month of the year (or last month of our lives if you believe in that whole Mayan calendar/end of the world thing) and once again I feel like it crept up on me.  Although December seems to sneak up on me every year, New York City loves to remind you that December is coming by throwing up holiday decorations all over town before Halloween.  I wanted to avoid putting my city’s eagerness for the holidays on blast, but now that it’s December, I thought it would be nice to share some of my favorite displays of holiday decorations gone mad public art.

‘Holiday Under the Stars’ at the Time Warner Center. My favorite holiday display in the city. The changing color of the stars is choreographed to holiday music!

Black Friday craziness in Macy’s!

Ice skating at Rockefeller Center

The tree at Rockefeller Center was up, but had not been lit when we visited. It’s hiding behind this giant sign.

Angels at Rockefeller Center

Lame tourists. (Mom and I)

The story behind this photo is that the two Salvation Army women were playing the “Cupid Shuffle” and dancing to encourage people to give donations and my mother joined them. It was amazing and I’m sorry I don’t have video.

My mom is cooler than me.

More of Midtown

6th avenue and 50th street, a great location for fantastic holiday decorations.

My second favorite holiday display, giant ornaments on 6th avenue and 50th street.

Bryant Park Christmas tree

These trees are FILLED with Christmas lights outside of the Time Warner Center

As an added bonus, when my Mom was here visiting for Thanksgiving, we found ourselves strolling on 5th avenue near Rockefeller Center partaking in tourist-like activities.  I suppose we fully acquired the tourist mindset because within 20 minutes, my Mother fell for the “girl dressed as a Rockette selling tickets to see the Rockettes” trap.  All snark aside, we scored incredibly priced orchestra seats via a promotion code that was only valid that day (of course) to see the 85th Annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular the next night.  Neither of us had ever seen the Rockettes perform so we were both pretty excited event though I’ll admit that prior to the show I tried to remain as much of a jaded New Yorker as possible.

This. Show. Was. Magical.  I’m talking fireworks, amazing costumes, actual ice-skating (still have no idea how they did that), live animals (CAMELS. REAL, LIVE CAMELS.), a portion of the show in 3-D and a segment with like 60 dancing Santa’s that made the 5 year old inside of me scream with joy.  More than any of that, these girls can DANCE. I saw bits of Irish dancing, ballet, tap, modern, jazz, and of course high kicks.  It was truly something else and I highly recommend it to both New York City visitors and residents.  The show is a love letter to New York and made me appreciate everything about NYC during the holidays.

Excitement!

Stunning lobby of Radio City

I’d like this in my apartment…

Music hall

Needed equipment in order to view the show.

A glimpse of the show!

Live nativity scene. My FAVORITE part.

Finale

If the above pictures didn’t convince you to see the show, these giant boxes of nerds were available for purchase downstairs. Mom wouldn’t let me 🙁

The Rockettes will be performing at Radio City until December 30 and you can get tickets here.  I recommend Googling “Rockettes discount code” because orchestra section tickets can get rather pricey.  If you can’t make it to New York, the Rockettes are going on a national tour so you may be able to see them in your hometown!