On November 14, the iconic 75 feet Rockefeller Christmas Tree has arrived in New York City. The tree weighs about 11 tons and is a Norway Spruce. This tree is commonly seen as a holiday symbol for the city for the past 89 years.

As the giant tree had shown up in New York City, it was not hard for locals to realize what the tree looked like and take to social media to express how “Charlie Brown Christmas” it looked. The tree was definitely missing a few branches here and there and definitely did not look pleasing to the eye. Not to mention, a small owl was found in the tree and has since been returned to the wild, however, we can only imagine the type of journey that it went on to end up in the city that never sleeps.

With the craziness of the Rockefeller tree that is hoping to be lit up by December 2, many have symbolized this tree as a metaphor for the year 2020. With that being said, shall we summarize our year that is a Christmas Tree?

When our year started in January, the news was filled that a US drone has struck Baghdad International Airport and had killed an Iranian general. The news scared many and social media had labeled the attack as the beginning of “World War III”, and although this did not happen, January definitely did not end there.

On January 26, the world’s phones buzzed with the news that there was a helicopter in Los Angles, it would soon be revealed that the passengers consisted of Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna, and seven others that died immediately. This news hurt not only sports fans but truly so many people all around the world.

It was not until February where news of COVID would start headlining in the States. We had experienced our first American death due to the virus and we added a couple more cases to our dashboard.

We slowly entered March as more presidential candidates started to drop out of the race narrowing the names on the ballot, and WHO had officially declared coronavirus a global pandemic. It was then on March 13 that President Trump had declared that we were in a national emergency and schools across the country were transitioning online.

March had continued to be a month of postponing, canceling, and new rules, however, in April the U.S. had become the first country to report 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day and stimulus checks started to roll out to American households.

As May hit, many were expecting Coronavirus to be a thing of the past, but unfortunately, that was not the case. The world had surpassed 300,000 deaths because of COVID-19.

June had no easy start either as many protesters took to the streets to fight against police brutality. These protests soon became riots in some cities and stores were destroyed and looted. The United States also became the first country to pass 2 million coronavirus cases.

In early August, a massive explosion in Beirut killed a couple of hundred people and injured thousands of others. Then “Black Panther” actor, Chadwick Boseman, shocked fans worldwide after he had died at 43 years old after a four-year fight with Cancer.

Summer was over, and in the middle of September, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had passed away at age 87. Then in October, news broke that President Trump had tested positive for COVID after hosting the nomination ceremony for soon to be supreme court justice, Amy Coney Barett.

The long-awaited election month was finally here and Joe Biden was named President-Elect.

Now although, I just reminded you of everything that happened during this awful year, let me bring it back on how this year is like the much-loved Rockefeller tree. This year has been rough and so is the tree. Let December be the month that this year is flipped around and made memorable, just like the tree when it is lit up and shining in the city.

We all know that during the month of December, New York will know how to spruce the tree up and let it live up to the legacy that it is. Let the first 11 months of 2020 be the Rockefeller tree when it first arrived in the city, and let December be the month of growth, happiness, and memories.

This year has been difficult and senior, Katherine Ortiz (12), says that she is “looking forward to December because although this year has been rough, I am looking forward to making December the best it can be with the opportunities that I have.”

So, overall, Mustangs. Make this last month of 2020 the greatest yet. Let this month be the beautiful Rockefeller tree. Turn your entire year around and most importantly, make sure to shine bright!