It's that time of the year!

As the 25^th December slowly but surely gets closer, people are either impatient about it or are just waiting for this whole “Christmas madness” to end. For me it is the only two weeks I have in the entire year to visit family and spend time with relatives, hang out with friends who don’t live so close to me anymore and do things that make me happy that I usually don't have time for. Sure, buying presents that are going to satisfy everyone is "mission impossible" and, based on my prior experience, too expensive. In my opinion, buying presents and spending a fortune is just ruining the Christmas spirit. People are uptight instead of relaxed and tired and exhausted of the endlessly long shopping nightmare they put themselves through year-in, year-out. When they are finally done with it, the only thing people want to do is lie down, sleep or watch TV. No one wants to go out with friends or for a walk with their family. Why should you waste your precious time on buying meaningless presents instead of inviting your family or friends for a nice dinner or going on a trip? It’s not about the presents, it's about the people.

Few days ago, I visited "Advent in Vienna" with my family. I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked almost too good to be true. It was my first time in Vienna as well so I was really over the moon. There is not a single street without Christmas lamps and decorations. Every little square, and there's lots of them, are occupied with little houses that serve delicious food and where you can buy really nice statuettes, toys, cards and lots of other things. “Christkindlmarkt” is the biggest and most truly outstanding Christmas fair compared to what I’ve seen so far. Even without snow it looked magical, especially when as darkness fell as the only things producing light were colourful light bulbs, snowmen and paper lanterns hanging on trees.

source: http://www.stadtbekannt.at/

There is another internationally renowned Christmas fair which takes in the heart of Manhattan. I am talking about the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York. I would like to present you with some facts I am sure you didn't know about it.

1931 was the first year that a tree was placed in front of the Rockefeller Center. It was during the time of Great Depression and workers at the Center decided to save some money together and buy a Christmas tree. Compared to today's Tree, which is up to 30 m high and decorated in millions of light bulbs and ornaments, it was a small tree (only 20 m high) which was adorned with strings of cranberries and garlands of paper that were brought from worker’s homes. After decorating the Tree, they lined up next to it to receive their pay.

source: First Christmas Tree in 1931

As the Tree became a tradition, ornamentation changed over the years. There were glass ornaments, ornaments in shape of dogs and sailboats. During WWII the tree was decorated in patriotic red, white and blue globes and wooden ornaments. The plastic star at the top of the Tree was replaced by a specially designed ‘Swarovski star’in 2009. This star is worth $1.5 million and contains 25,000 crystals and 1 million facets. 

source: Swarovski star

Finding a perfect Tree definitely isn't an easy task. Lots of trees were, in fact, donated to Rockefeller Center and purposely sought out. Transport of these giants is only possible at night due to their size and New York’s heavy traffic The uppermost branches of the Tree are decorated before the Tree is hoisted. The tallest ever tree was displayed in 1999 and it was a 30 m tall Norway spruce. This type of tree has since 1982 been chosen for Christmas decoration in New York. After the holidays, the tree is used for door frames or other things that people can use later.

I wish you all Merry Christmas! :)