Watching the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center has been a tradition of my family since I was little.  Of course we’re not brave enough to actually go there, we’d rather brave the cold inside our little Virginia house.  By the fireplace.  Yeah you heard me.

Now that I’m an adult, I still enjoy watching the tree lighting, only instead of watching from a little house in Virginia I watch from a little apartment in Pennsylvania.  The hosts, Jane Krakowski and Zachary Levi, ushered in this 77th tree lighting with humor and smiles.  The show was peppered with musical guests, including Alicia Keys singing a rather unique new jazz version of “Little Drummer Girl,” Jo Dee Messina countrifying “Let It Snow,” Shakira singing a rather unique version of “Santa Baby,” and Rod Stewart forgetting the words to “Love Train.”  One of the more interesting musical guests was Barry Manilow who sang “Christmas Is Just Around the Corner” beautifully (as he’s well known for doing), but he’s starting to resemble Cher with all the cosmetic surgery.  Barry, we love you the way you are!  Go gray and wrinkle!  It shows you’ve lived!

My favorite part of the evening was when The Muppets came out and sang “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”  I turned into a little kid the moment they came on the screen.  Even though Jim Henson is long gone, The Muppets have yet to lose their touch on our culture and our lives.

There was a touching video of Marines seeing their families for the first time as they came home from overseas.  Michael Buble sang a romantic ”I’ll Be Home For Christmas” while the video played. The honor of lighting the tree was given to three of those Marines alongside Mayor Bloomberg and NBC executives.  The tree looked absolutely gorgeous.  With the lighting of the tree, the official holiday season has begun!  The tree will stay lit until January 7th so go take a look while you can!