Why You Should Skip The Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting

Each year, thousands of people trek a winding line to see the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony at the Rockefeller Center Plaza in New York. Before you decide to take this depressing pilgrimage on Wednesday, let me save you some time. A lot of time. Dont go.

I made this mistake the first year I moved to NYC in 2008. Unless you are prepared to stand for hours, shoulder to shoulder, for obstructed view in a wet cold that no amount of sweaters, scarves and coats can block (forget Uniqlo, the Northeast wet cold literally cuts through any layer), wait until after the lighting ceremony and the crowd has cleared.

On a cold December evening, I left the office and rushed to the Rockefeller Plaza, giddy as can be. For years, I had watched the ceremony on TV and now I was going to be there in person. Plus, Beyonce was one of the performers! I got off the train and to my surprise a barricaded line wrapped along Fifth Avenue and around the side streets. There were police officers everywhere shuffling tourists along the blocks to get to the tree. I watched the crowd take baby steps in the snow and I almost turned back.

I lost count how many police officers turned me in the wrong direction. It wasnt clear which way to walk because one officer would tell me this street was blocked off so turn around to go down the next street, only for the officer of that street to tell me I was going the wrong way. It took over two hours just to get to 48th Street to view the tree a block away.

I stood another two hours in the snow listening to performers I couldnt see, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus (circa innocent Miley), Faith Hill, The Jonas Brothers and more. After an hour of singing, I couldnt feel my hands and toes. I said aloud, Enough with the singing already, why dont they just light the tree. Everyone turned and looked at me like I was the scrooge of Christmas.

When the tree was finally lit at exactly 9:57 p.m., it was over in less than seven seconds and I have never experienced a more depressing tree lighting since. Even my three-foot tree at home felt more magical. I was cold, grumpy, tired and hungry and my legs were stiff. Those mix of ingredients are never good when you are forced to stand for hours. Few out of the thousands lingered to watch the lit tree. The later it got, the smaller the crowd.

As I posed in front of the 72-foot Norway spruce, I thought I should have come to see the tree after the lighting. And that is just what I did thereafter as I will do on Wednesday.

Monique Antonette Lewis has visited 14 countries and 26 U.S. states. She is the founder of At The Inkwell, a New York City-based organization that supports published authors through book reviews, author interviews and readings. The reading series is hosted across major US cities and London. She is an editor for Mergermarket, a global financial news service. Monique lives in Denver.