Last night was LIT (all the puns intended). I, along with tens of thousands of people, filled the Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City to attend the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. The event was hosted by NBC and made me feel the most New York yet–there’s nothing like waiting hours in the cold to see a production and the most famous Christmas tree come to life. It was an absolutely amazing experience.

The beautiful tree is the 86th to grace Rockefeller and came from Pennsylvania. It’s 75 feet tall, weighs 12 tons and has 50,000 multicolored LED lights with an iconic Swarovski star on top. The star is comprised of 25,000 crystals with one million facets. It’s truly remarkable and crazy stunning.

I won tickets to the exclusive NBC pre-show Pentatonix concert taping. It took place under the tree on the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink. We had the best viewing spot in the city and I was in complete awe. The music was so pretty and the festive Christmas spirit that filled the air was overwhelmingly perfect. I was so dazzled and dazed by all the gorgeous decorations — I LOVE CHRISTMAS.

I went with my friend Bri who is in the journalism semester program with me and is also from Minnesota! Craziest thing — she goes to Bethel. We literally go to colleges that are less than a mile awhile from each other back home, and we happen to meet for the first time in New York.

After the concert they moved us to a viewing spot that was reserved for ticket winners. Many people had to start lining up early that afternoon to even get a glimpse of the tree (the streets were blocked off and PACKED), so it was such a fun and awesome experience to win tickets and have a spot reasonably close to the tree and with a full view. Because it was a broadcast being aired on NBC, the TODAY show hosts were there and also did a countdown:

And just like that, Christmas has taken over NYC. I work right by Rockefeller and I can’t wait to pass the tree again and hopefully get a chance to ice skate underneath it on the rink at night. It’s such a magical time to be in New York. I love this season and the joy that surrounds it. These experiences are going to make it really hard to leave in the next three weeks to move back home… New York City, I’ll forever adore your whimsical charm.