If you weren’t watching closely, the first signs of the 2021 holiday season might’ve tiptoed by you. But two events, this week, proved the door is open, if only a little, for holidays far more normal than any since the pandemic began.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Is It Finally the 2021 Holiday Season in New York?
At Rockefeller Center, a controversial Christmas tree…
Yesterday, a 79 foot tall, 85 year old Norway spruce was chopped down in Elkton, Maryland. Until then, it lived a healthy life in a family’s yard, according to 6sqft. “Rockefeller Center officials look for a Norway spruce in the later years of its life that measures at least 75 feet tall and is 46 inches in diameter,” it says.
If so, they missed their mark by over a century. Norway spruce normally remain healthy for around 200 years. Their average lifespan is between 300 and 400 years.
Cutting down healthy trees, whether for living rooms or Rockefeller Center, is controversial, and nothing about this year’s tree changes that. As a sort of apology, the group pledges each year to plant many more trees as compensation.
A lighting ceremony, broadcast nationally, is on tap for December 1st. Last year, because of the pandemic, no one was allowed to observe it in person, but this year is different. Although details for NBC’s Christmas in Rockefeller Center have not been released, many, if not all, restrictions will be lifted.
A less controversial next step…
On Saturday, the 2021 holiday season gets a popular, but not as celebrated boost with the opening of the Rockefeller Center skating rink. For $20 a pop, skaters can glide by Prometheus and, once it’s up, this years Christmas tree.
More from the Roosevelt Island Daily News
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- Midtown Subway Shooting Leaves 26-Year-Old Dead; Queens Incidents SeparateA shooting inside a Manhattan subway station left a 26-year-old dead. Police investigate the Midtown incident and separate shootings in Queens as commuters seek safety.
- College Point Community Responds After Senior Dog Taken From Front LawnA College Point senior dog was taken from her front lawn, sparking a neighborhood response and NYPD investigation. Learn how the community is working together after a senior dog was taken from front lawn.
Susan Rosenthal, a Sacrificial Lamb?*
After Susan Rosenthal was fired, David Kraut would talk about almost anything except Susan. This was unusual because David could discuss a subject long after everyone else had exhausted both the subject and the available oxygen. When her name entered the conversation, however, he became careful. At first I mistook that restraint for discretion; later, I began to recognize guilt.
