Happy December!! Despite the merciless cold that personifies New York winter, I’ve been smiling from ear to ear even in celebration of this incredible month! New York has been preparing for Christmas so beautifully, there are so many gorgeous Christmas trees and the streets are all lit up with decorations and the enthusiasm of tourists. No other season pulls up like this!

To commemorate the December series, let’s start with a little story of how some friends and I dashed to Rockefeller center to catch the tree lighting with an unexpected turn of events:

The night before, I texted a friend about 2 tree lighting events- one at Wall Street, and the other at Rockefeller center. Our schedules conflicted with the Wall Street one, so we decided to stick to midtown for Rockefeller instead. In the evening the next day, we brought along more friends to witness the Christmas sparkle otherwise known as the tree lighting; luckily, it was walking distance from us, so we left mere minutes before the event started. As we approached the location, we were met with barricades for the next 3 blocks! We ended up taking a longer route to get there and even ran towards 5th avenue at a point, only to find more barricades! I then asked the police officer how we can go see the tree, and he said there was a protest going on… and that was when we knew, the chances of us seeing the tree light up wasn’t going to happen that night.

BUT, in life, things happen and you’ve got to move on, right? So, we were close to Bryant park where its Christmas tree was already lit up, so we braved the cold even further and walked there. It was so beautiful.

I guess the ‘Christmas Miracle’ for us that day was our evening going better than planned: seeing a breathtaking tree, people ice skating, and the Bryant Park Christmas market! Such. a. vibe.

What happened that day reminded me of the quote: “stop waiting for everything to be perfect to be happy” - thanks to whoever said that <3 (Update, I just checked out my last blog post and I talked about how “we can’t control outcomes” and how “what will be, will be” - what a coincidence!!)

Now, a little more on TOD December series:

There are so many beautiful things to share this December; I’ve been working on a little Christmas / end of the year themed project that you will start seeing from next week. I’m super excited to share all of that with you guys; stay subscribed and if you haven’t yet, subscribe to stay tuned as we celebrate the end of the year and all that it means!

Stay warm, stay positive, stay blessed!

Until the next one

-C