On Tuesday, December 13, BAHS students in both FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and select marketing classes traveled up to New York City to celebrate the holiday season and view the marketing of products during Christmas.

Christmas in New York City is simply wonderful. The chill in the air is just enough for red noses. The city streets are decked out in shimmering lights and dazzling displays of ornaments, snowflakes, and tinsel. Groups dumped out of the bus immediately becoming big-eyed and seeming to wander just to get a little glimpse of all in sight.

The first stop on our trip was touring through Macy’s. Walking through the door you are hit with a pungent floral odor coming from the pop-up cosmetic stands. Your eyes are drawn to the digital screens flashing various products with bright lights and flashy transitions. The exciting nature of being surrounded by the holiday festivities can be overwhelming. You get the feeling even if you stood in your exact position for the next hour or so observing, you would still manage to miss something. The group seemed to revert to their child-like selves, becoming absolutely in awe.

The holidays always bring on an un-denying desire to re-live and re-feel those moments from the Christmas season when you were a kid. I overheard Senior Brooke Keesey murmur, “Everything looked so much bigger when I was little.” Everything Christmas-related used to make me feel so magical, such a big, beautiful feeling.

But every year, it seems like my holiday spirit grows dimmer and dimmer.

I wish I could hold onto the feeling I had as a child. I wish this really was the happiest time of the year for me. Christmas, as we get older, can be overshadowed by all the stress and anxiety surrounding the season.

However, walking around NYC and seeing humans being humans brought the warm Christmas fuzziness back into my body.

The group’s final stop was going to the Top of the Rock observatory. The observatory offers 365-degree views of the city lit up in all its breathtaking beauty. In that moment, I believe we all realized how miniscule our problems truly are. How grateful we should be for being able to experience Christmas year after year. Being able to see thousands upon thousands of people in an eyesight can be very powerful.

Although it feels as though Christmas is only another day, we should be grateful to make it another day on this earth. And on that note, I’m not too old to pack my Elf on the Shelf, Eugene, in my bags for college next year.