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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Christmas Tree Lighting

It was worth staying at work until 9 p.m. on a Wednesday for this view!
Ever since I started working at Rockefeller Center in April, I've been curious to see what it's like to spend the holiday season in such a New York City landmark.

Wednesday night was the annual tree lighting ceremony. I walked outside in afternoon to check out the setup. Quite a production -- cops and security guards were everywhere, and they moved all the tables and chairs away from the windows near the skating rink underground.

Here's a shot from the Plaza yesterday afternoon. The building on the right is 50 Rock, where I work. There is a balcony on the fifth floor, and we used it to watch the ceremony, which was broadcast locally from 7 to 9 p.m. (I am 90% sure I passed by Saturday Night Live Producer Lorne Michaels while I was walking around.)



Here's the view from the corner office on my floor. The executive who occupies it was out and told her secretary not to let anyone inside. What a Grinch! Naturally we went inside after the secretary went home. (Only a handful of people stayed...guess it's not as much of a novelty for most of my colleagues.)

The view of the crowd from a window in the conference room...
 From the balcony, I spotted Donald Trump's distinctive hair on stage with Al Roker...

A lot of the performances were taped, but the teenybopper shrieks were always a good indication that one of Justin Bieber's segments was playing...
Cee Lo was there live...the acoustics were a little strange outside, but someone pulled a TV through a window so we could keep up with the show. The big screen on 30 Rock was just outside of our viewing line.

I was amused to see all of the performers had their song lyrics on teleprompter to prevent any embarrassing slips...
Finally, at 8:55, they lit the tree. Ta-DA!!!
What a fun night! So glad I stayed and made the most of it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved watching even more than usual knowing that you were there. So proud to be the parent of my own personal Big Apple reporter. MOM

Dee Stephens said...

LOVE IT! Brad commented about all the young kids too!

Anonymous said...

You are making the Dr. Seuss book OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO come to life!! Keep that sense of wonderment!! Ms. Sheila

Katie said...

Fun! I'm glad you are not afraid to do all the fun campy NYC things, so I get the full report :)