Let the Holidays Begin!

One of my favorite holiday rituals is the arrival of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Walking to work early in the morning, year after year I have come upon the great tree lying on its flatbed truck waiting to make its debut. There is such promise and excitement surrounding the tree as it lays there. It is easy to think about the thousands and thousands of people from all over the world who will walk past and dream Christmas dreams of toys and Santa and good wishes for the future.

They move so quickly and efficiently to haul the enormous tree up onto its stands, dress its branches and surround it with scaffolding to being decoration. Each day I would walk past to see the progress.

This year I wasn’t walking past early in the morning, but I did detour to see the tree just having been hoisted into position. Crowds were watching with wonder and excitement as men crawled all around the great tree readying it for each successive step.

This year’s tree came from the front yard of a New York firefighter. He and his family were thrilled that their tree would be famous throughout the world and would bring happy smiles to so many faces.

Let the holidays begin! This should be a time of joy and thankfulness and I hope I catch the spirit and that I can share it with as many as possible.