And then, the lighting of the tree.

Last evening the tree in Rockefeller Center was lit, and a big ceremony started at 7--the crowds were there by 3. Tina and I made our way over around 8, and really had no chance of seeing anything accept what we could make out from the giant TV screen about 100 feet in front of the massive crowd we had attached ourselves to. We were able to watch both Enya and Sarah McLaughlin sing--but not really hear them. It's a very touristy event, but since this is our first year in New York, we wanted to try and catch a glimpse of the ceremony and the tree--of course we saw neither. After making our way through the crowd maybe 25 feet--we both stood and watched the screen, both feeling rather annoyed.

This time of year New York moves to an even faster beat than usual. Tourists crowd the steets, vendors hawk anything and everything to unprepared passers-by.

One vendor last night was selling light up reindeer ears - not antlers, ears. "Get your reindeer ears here!," he would shout at the crowd.

One young hispanic family was standing next to us with their little girl. She kept eyeing the man selling the light-up ears and then looking back at her mom. She was too cute for her parents to resist, so as the man walked by they motioned for him to come over. The little girl's face lit up with a beaming smile. The dad dug through wallet trying to find the right amount of money, while his wife watched with hopes he had enough. He did. The family laughed while the little girl shook her head like she was a reindeer and danced around in the joy of the moment.

Something about watching this little girl, so happy because her dad had gotten her a pair of light-up reindeer ears, made the evening seem wonderful to me.

I realize this might be a trifle overdone, but it gave me a glimmer of hope, joy, and peace--really what this time of year is about. Although all the commercialism surrounding Christmas is annoying and frankly wrong, this little girl's face made me happy and thankful. I wish her a wonderful Christmas and I hope for her happiness.

It's very easy to become dismayed with the emptiness surrounding the way we've come to celebrate Christmas, but Christmas is about hope. And sometimes, just when we feel like we have to stretch for that hope -we find it in the face of a small child.