Television Christmas At Rockefeller Center Aired On: NBC Reviewed by Melissa Minners               Since I was a kid, watching the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was a family tradition.  Begun unofficially during the Depression-era when construction workers at the site decorated a small twenty foot tree on Christmas Eve, the tradition became official in 1933.  Every year since, with exception of the blackout years during World War II, a grand ceremony has taken place in which a special tree has been selected and lit to the awe of crowds of people.  This Christmas tree lighting has always marked the beginning of the Christmas season for my family.             When I was a kid, the tree would be lit around 7 or 8pm.  Just prior to this lighting, there would be musical performances.  At first, the performances were Christmas songs performed by choirs and maybe a popular singer or two.  In later years, the ceremonies grew longer, with more Christmas songs sung and reporters roaming the crowds, talking to the many people who arrive just to take part in the ceremony by being there to witness the grand event.              However, recently, I had noticed a disturbing trend about the annual Christmas tree lighting that airs on NBC.  The show was getting longer and longer, but the focus was no longer on Christmas.  Performers were there to promote their recent albums, and usually these were not Christmas albums.  Thus, they would sing songs found on those albums which had nothing to the holiday.  This began happening more and more until I grew disgusted with the event.  It had become less about the holiday tradition and more about how much records could be sold by each performer.  I vowed to stop watching the show, preferring instead to watch shows like Shrek the Halls, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, etc., anything that had to do with Christmas other than this farce of a tree lighting at Rockefeller Center.  I ranted and raved about it to anyone who would listen.             Well, it seems that I was not the only one ranting, because this year, the tree lighting ceremony was all about Christmas.  Out of hope for the tradition that NBC had brought me in the past, I turned on the Christmas at Rockefeller Center instead of watching Rudolph or the Grinch.  Imagine my surprise when every special guest performer began singing their versions of traditional Christmas songs and even new songs about the season!  I was ecstatic - this is what I had been asking for all along!             The performers were plentiful and well-known.  There was Josh Groban, Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, Jessica Simpson, Susan Boyle, Boys II Men and Annie Lennox.  New pop sensation Charice was there as well as British icon Katherine Jenkins.  The most surprising/disturbing performances were by the ten year old phenom Jackie Evancho.  How can such a strong, cultured voice come from such a little kid?!  Amazing.  I wasn't too enamored with Susan Boyle's choice of songs.  Her voice was beautiful as always, but one of the songs was quite depressing and not really Christmasy at all.  The other was barely recognizable.  I also wasn't too jazzed at the Rockettes and their outfits - what happened to the red Santa outfits?  Most enjoyable were the performances by Josh Groban and Charice.  Most interesting performance of the night: when Charice was announced and instead of Jingle Bell Rock, Boys II Men's last number, This Christmas, started playing.  Charice started off playful about the whole thing, but when the music didn't stop playing, her pianist took over by reminding us that we were watching live television.  Of course, this did spark rumors that maybe Boys II Men were lip synching.  Even I wondered about that until I realized that the music and vocals we heard were the background music and not the actual song itself.             Then the tree was lit and what a sight it was, a 74 foot Norway spruce donated by Peter and Stephanie Acton of Mahopac, New York, beautifully lit with 30,000 multi-colored LED lights.  Simply beautiful.  The Christmas music, the ceremony, the lighting of the tree - this is what tradition is all about and I hope NBC realizes its follies of past years and goes with the 2010 format of Christmas at Rockefeller Center from now on.  Of course, there's nothing like viewing the tree in person, but this is a terrific start to the season!   For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at talonkarrde@g-pop.net.