Christmas in New York City -- Happy New Year in Time Square!

New York City is a wonderful place to visit and there is no better time than during the holidays when everything is merry and bright! To see more details all photos and mosaics will enlarge when clicked on.
It took me a long time to see the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree this year, and it did not disappoint! It will be on display until January 7th, 2009. The 76 foot Norway spruce tree came from Easton, Connecticut, home of fifth-grade teacher Maria Corti. It is decorated with 30,000 energy efficient LED lights that are fully powered by solar panels.

The Swarovski star, designed in 2004, measures 9 1/2 feet in diameter and 1 1/2 feet deep, and is adorned with 25,000 crystals and one million facets.

The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was put up in 1931 by workers building the Rockefeller Center complex during the Depression. The complex owner, John D. Rockefeller, thought the gesture showed the true meaning of Christmas, of hope and joy, and two years later had the first official tree erected for Christmas in front of the 70 story main building. The first official tree lighting was in 1933 and the first televised tree lighting ceremony was in 1951 on the Kate Smith Evening Hour show.

The twelve 8 foot tall wire sculptured angel figures that line the fountain in the plaza in front of the tree are by the English artist Valerie Clarebout, and have been part of the display since 1954.

Saks Fifth Avenue Department store can be seen in the background of this view of the Rockefeller Center Angels.

The search for next year's tree begins almost immediately! All year round, people from all over the USA write in with photos of their trees offering them to Rockefeller Center. The desired dimensions are a minimum of 65 feet tall and 35 feet wide, although the tree is usually over 75 to 90 feet tall. The tallest tree ever was 100 feet tall in 1999. If you have such a tree growing in your back yard you might want to consider donating it to be next year's Christmas tree.

After the tree is taken down from display the branches are recycled into mulch and the trunk is made into lumber to be used by Habitat for Humanity.

Over 500,000 people come to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree during its display and the day I visited I thought everyone decided to come on the same day! Sorry the photo is a little blurry, but I held my camera over my head and took the shot above the sardine can crowd trying to move on 5th Avenue! In all my years of visiting the tree I never encountered a crowd the size of this, but I realized it may have been larger than normal because of the few weekends of inclement weather we had in the month of December, including a snowstorm and rain storm, and the day I was in Manhattan it was a fair 50 degrees in temperature!

All of the publishing companies on 6th Avenue decorate their buildings so beautifully for Christmas as you can see in the mosaic above. McGraw Hill changed their usual giant tree lights display to LED lights this year, to reflect the popular desire to go green.

The UNICEF Snowflake hanging high above 5th Ave, designed by the famed designer Ingo Maurer and handcrafted by craftsmen at Baccarat, is the world's largest outdoor chandelier! The New York Snowflake sparkles with 16,000 Baccarat crystal prisms, and is 23 feet wide and over 28 feet tall, and weighs more than 3,300 pounds. The crystals are 2 ½” diameter, and each one that forms the UNICEF Snowflake can be purchased and engraved for a $500 donation which will go to UNICEF's efforts to help children around the world.

Some information from the web site:

"Shining in the heart of New York City and Beverly Hills, the UNICEF Snowflake is a special symbol for the world's most vulnerable children.
These iconic snowflakes—at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York and on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills—hang as a reminder of UNICEF’s commitment to reach a day when zero children die from preventable causes."

More iconic views of Christmas in New York in the mosaic above, from top left across are (1-2)views of Radio Center Music Hall where the famous (3) Rockettes are part of the Christmas Show, (4) the train display in the window of Lionel Store , (5) Saint Patrick's Cathedral, bottom left to right --(6) view of ice skating rink in front of the Rockefeller Center tree, (7) the top of The Empire State Building lit with red and green lights for Christmas, (8) view down 5th Ave at Saks Fifth Ave and St, Patrick's, (9) The NBC Rainbow Room marque, (10) the top of the building in Times Square where the New Year's eve ball is dropped.

The Saks Fifth Ave department store's "Snowflake Spectacle" is a light and sound show which is displayed on its flagship's facade featuring 72,000 Philips LEDs that illuminate 50 giant snowflakes, choreographed to the "Carol of the Bells" song. It was fun to stop for a few minutes to watch the snowflakes "dance" to the tune by individually lighting on and off in different sequences.

Sadly, because of the giant crowd that was in midtown, I did not even attempt to view the holiday decorated store windows this year. I did not want to chance anyone stepping on my fractured foot which is almost healed, so I'll make a point to go earlier next year to take photos.

There were lots of favorite cartoon "characters" along both 6th and 7th Avenues in costume this year very willing to pose for photos in exchange for a "donation." I have to admit the young children in the crowds were excited to see them.

As you can see in the mosaic above, Bryant Park, which is located between 40 and 42nd Street and 5th and 6th Ave, transforms into a Winter Wonderland during the holiday season!
The park hosts a free holiday fair during the season which features over 100 booths with goods for sale by artisans, designers and food merchants from around the world. A temporary 170' x 100' state of the art ice skating rink is constructed in the middle of the park, called The Pond at Bryant Park" and opens to ice skating from 8 AM to 10 PM with extended holiday hours, November 6, 2009 until January 24, 2010. If you come with your own skates it is free, and skate rentals are available for $12.

On New Years Eve the famous New Year's Eve Ball descends from the flagpole atop One Times Square. At 11:59 p.m., the Waterford Crystal Ball begins its descent as millions of voices unite to count down the final seconds of the year, and celebrate the beginning of a new year. Every year Waterford creates some new panels for the ball and this year the theme for the new panels is "Let There Be Courage."

The Duracell Smart Power Lab has been collecting energy from Power Rovers bike pedalers that will generate the approximately 32,000 watt hours that will power the 2010 numbers for 30 minutes during the New Year’s Eve Ball drop ceremony.

Some historical information from the Times Square Alliance web site:

"Revelers began celebrating New Year's Eve in Times Square as early as 1904, but it was in 1907 that the New Year's Eve Ball made its maiden descent from the flagpole atop One Times Square.
The Ball has been lowered every year since 1907, with the exceptions of 1942 and 1943, when the ceremony was suspended due to the wartime "dimout" of lights in New York City. Nevertheless, the crowds still gathered in Times Square in those years and greeted the New Year with a minute of silence followed by the ringing of chimes from sound trucks parked at the base of the tower - a harkening-back to the earlier celebrations at Trinity Church, where crowds would gather to "ring out the old, ring in the new."

A more detailed history of Times Square can be read at this Times Square Alliance Link.

On New Years Eve an estimated one million people are in Times Square to see the ball drop. It is always a very busy place, as you can see from the size of the crowd that was there the day I visited. I like to stay at home on New Years Eve. I cook a special dinner for my husband and we watch the ball drop along with millions nationwide and over a billion watching throughout the world.

The Waterford New Years ball was not yet in place the day I visited, but the numerals for 2010 were!

Can you believe we are beginning another new decade? The past ten years have brought many changes to the world, both good and bad. The next ten years will bring the same. The things we all hope and dream for are probably positive things such as blessings, peace, good health, happiness, love, success, friendships, hope, etc. Perhaps we would also like forgiveness, reconciliation, and courage. Don't we all resolve to try to be a better person in the coming year?

To all my family, friends, fellow bloggers who read my blog, and everyone else who chances upon it, I hope whatever you wish for the New Year comes true and that all changes you resolve to make will happen!

I have enjoyed learning about my city as I have blogged about it, and my life in it, over the past two years, and I have learned so much from all the blogs I read and chance upon. Each of you enrich my life more than I can express! I thank you all for sharing so much of your thoughts, talents, recipes, travels, your lives and your families and your friendship on your blogs, and I look forward to sharing another year with all of you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am linking this post to our gracious hostess Susan at A Southern Daydreamer blog's "Outdoor Wednesday" event. Visit her blog today to see other participating blog's links to their outdoor events.