Holiday spirit is being trucked into the city today, in the form of that huge Rockefeller Center tree. (The tree lighting will be on December 3rd.) Urban forestry photojournalist Sumeet Shah is on the scene at an extremely high vantage point.

More pictures after the jump and throughout the day.

Are you kept up at night by financial fears? Yes...but PrezBo is always there for me with his consoling words.

Are you proud to be an American now with an Obama Presidency? Yes...but Obama's Presidency could be as disastrous as the Trojan War was for the Greeks! Wait, who won that war? Better check Sparknotes...

Are you scared to go to 1020 with the crime spree in the area? Yes...but now you just drink some delicious yuletide lager in your room for less than half the price.

Are you happy that your alma mater's military veterans marched in a parade? Yes...but making more vets is a terrible idea!

Today is Veterans Day, but the local RiteAid has already fallen victim to a vicious attack by Christmas decorations.

Bwog assumes the ladder is temporary.

RiteAid is not the first victim of this offensive -- others include Starbucks and Duane Reade (all the way back in September). If your friends or favorite establishment come down with this "early mistletoe" disease, please let Bwog know.

Look at what a nice welcome back treat your President Bollinger has arranged! Men have arrived in white trucks filled with Christmas lights, and they have begun stringing these lights around College Walk's trees in the traditional fashion.

More photos of daytime holiday loveliness after the jump.

Coming soon to 113th Street: McVickar hall, another space for alumni to network...but this time with undergrads!

Just five short years until the 6th and 7th graders at Columbia's Secondary School can get a taste of the big kid Core

The headline "Stale Castlevania Goes Eclectic in Order of Ecclesia" exists, heralds in a new video game

Columbia wins a football game

Alas, some grinches remind us that there's still no money, and, worse still, no paper

Oh look, here is a depressing thing: Duane Reade has already begun stocking up on Christmas decorations. In hopes that these were actually just leftovers from last year, Bwog checked with the salesperson who confirmed that yes, these are new for the season.

So if you're looking to start your Christmas paraphernalia collection early, at least they're really cheap, what with this being September and everything.

Christmas shopping in New York is a bitch--there's so much, and it's so expensive, and expectations of wonderful gifts from the Big City are so high that it's tempting just to throw in the towel altogether. Christmas shops, then, can furnish a partial solution to the problem of finding ten things for ten people in the waning hours before your plane/train/parent's Subaru departs. And even if you're not out to buy, the seasonal clusters of small businesses that set up shop at Columbus Circle, Bryant Park, and Union Square every December are worth a gander for their wondrous wares.

Columbus Circle - 59th and Central Park West

This open-air smorgasord of jewelry, apparel, and other sundries may be overpriced, but it's a bargain compared to the sticker shockers across the street in Time Warner Center. With the Park next door and the narrow, curved aisles, it feels a bit like a labyrinthine mountain village. This year there is a disappointing lack of food samples.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas and for those of you who just like asking for stuff, here's what BwGossipers want for the holidays, material and otherwise. Is anyone up there listening?

a time machine
Pinkberry for life
the secession of New York City
dinner with Katherine Boo
a bean bag chair
more presents under my fb christmas tree
Noah Feldman's babies
a sewing machine and the time to use it
Matilda's powers (for cooking, cleaning, mischief)
a massage
the end of the WGA strike
An internship at Entertainment Weekly Snow
A spot in Karl Kroeber's Children's Literature lecture
Dinner at Masa, paid for by someone else
A racing bike (pink touches, with full winter outfit to go with it)
More humidity in the city
A fully stocked professional kitchen
Friends in high places
The boy
A beat-up turn of the century house
Six consecutive hours of free time
A working command of Portuguese
Fresh rhubarb
A new bike

While you were celebrating the last day of classes in Butler or 1020, Bwog theatre critic Ginia Sweeney attended the late viewing of XMAS 2: The Secular Spectacular. Although the show's run began and ended last night, Ginia shares her thoughts. Photos by Lydia DePillis.

I've been so wrapped up in the end of the semester that I almost forgot how quickly Christmas is creeping up on us. You can bet that the cast and crew of XMAS 2: The Secular Spectacular, which showed twice last night in Roone Arledge Auditorium, haven't forgotten. The student-written, directed, and produced musical seeks to reveal the origins of that blockbuster holiday, as Judy Maccabee (Madeleine Stokes C'08) tells her children the story of a shake-up back in her teen years at Polar High School.

I went to the later showing and considering it was 11pm on the day classes ended, it was unsurprising that much of the audience members had already commenced their Monday night drinking. This would explain the loud guffaws at almost every attempted joke.

Some amount of kitsch is always appreciated, but XMAS was campy to a fault. It was filled with too many lackluster performance and musical numbers. It's clear a lot of work went into this production, and some of it paid off: there were several hilarious lines and well performed characters. Overall, though, the show was no where near as clever as it thought it was, and was irritating and uneven.

You don't need a New York City budget to enjoy a New York City Christmas. Every year, department stores create fantastic window displays to lure in the out-of-towners, and Angela Velez braved the tourists and shuffled along a block behind railings to bring you this report--Christmas cheer is optional, but recommended.

First stop was Macy's, where this year's theme was "Miracle on 34th Street." Macy's had pretty standard window displays, featuring the always classic yet slightly creepy moving figurine dolls. The windows included one of Susan Walker waving to Santa from her living room window and Kris Kringle as a mall Santa in "Macy's Santa Land." The best of this set was the last window, which mimicked the court scene from the movie, complete with moving paparazzi figures and tense looks on all the plastic people.

College Walk is crammed with merrymakers for the annual tree-lighting ceremony. All in all, it is a very Columbia Christmas: the Kingsmen modified "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" with a verse on lovebirds PrezBo and Ahmadinejad and Eric Foner gave a Bush-bashing speech about critical thinking in the new year. An unfortunate elderly gentlemen picked this hour to drive across College Walk and was greeted by Manhattan-centric cries of "Jersey plates! Oh, shameful!"

Best of all were the tables and tables of cookies (store bought) and hot beverages (a fine, tart cider and a very chocolatey, smooth cocoa). Spread among the free food were jingle bells, an informal poll (sample size 6) of which revealed one-third to be jingleless decoys. Make sure to grab a ringing one and join the procession from Low to John Jay lounge, where the Yule Log ceremony will start around 7.

After an exciting week of Decolonization, celebrity sightings and little children, only CCSC could return the student body to normalcy. No resolutions (or revolutions) tonight, but, for the first time ever, CTV taped the weekly updates.

The meeting opened with CCSC's beverage-related homecoming escapades. Once the meeting was called to order and the cameras began rolling, the council presidents were suddenly much peppier and more dapper. George Krebs, in particular, was extremely excited about the possibility of bringing the Big Apple Circus to Columbia. Unfortunately, the sophomore class trip to Montreal was cancelled. The seniors will still be taking a trip down to the Brooklyn Brewery.

When the cameras left, however, the council returned to their casual, informal state where they discussed the campus's most pressing issues including the recent bias incidents, the annual tree lighting and whether to switch all eggs used on campus to cage-free. While CCSC did not come to a consensus on how to express solidarity against the recent hate crimes, Sue Yang has planned an elaborate holiday celebration that could include candy canes with personalized notes, Michelle Diamond dressed up as Santa Claus (pictured at her Macy's gig from last year), caroling and jingle bells.

The most controversial discussion, however, whether they should to increase the dining budget by 0.4% (financed by an increase in upperclassmen meal plans by $8-10 per year) in order to make more humane meals. The meeting adjourned when freshman rep Sean Udell pointed out that none of the members were chicken farmers and they would get representatives of more informed groups to better understand the issue.

- JJV

Bwog is signing off for awhile to stuff our faces with sweetmeats and to relax Frankie Goes to Hollywood-style. But before we do, we asked several campus figures to tell us what they want for Chrismakwanzikkah or the other non-denominational winter holiday they celebrate. We got a few responses, starting with Sumaiya Ahmed's interview with...

Antonio, a security guard at McBain who says he wants a silver watch, a tuxedo, and the other half of his orange.

"You know what I mean don't you?"

"Umm, you mean your wife?"

"Yes," he says. "Well, a girlfriend, my ex-wife...."

Tao Tan: "Either the repeal of the capital gains tax, or the Battlestar Pegasus (with 4 squadrons of Mark VII Vipers)."

Professor Carl Hart: "Hmmm, let's see...For Christmas, I'd like justice for those with limited resources. I hope this answers the question."

Tim, the bearded violin player outside Lerner says, "I would like that the world be more like the people in New York, how they have been to me, taking care of each other. It is astounding. It is not like that everywhere, you know."

He is from Wisconsin, though he says the people there are nice too.

"I have hope for us," he says. "I think we'll figure it out. You young folks, you're pretty bright. Pretty and bright! Though of course, I don't wanna make any big generalizations."

Ashley Nin brings us this dispatch of a santa sighting like never before:

3:15pm - Waiting for the 1 train at Columbus Circle.

3:17pm - About a dozen policemen walk up whispering fervently into their walkie-talkies.

3:20pm - 1 train finally arrives. Each car is packed with people donning Santa Claus costumes. Train is too packed; I don't get on.

3:22pm - Another 1 train arrives with fewer Santas. I get on and mingle with a group of them. They were hesitant as to explain themselves, but I was able to convince one to give me the scoop: There is a moving Santa Convention happening today in the city. The main group of Santas was on the full train; the guys I spoke to were just trying to catch up. They all exited at the 66th street exit and moved on to their next meeting place.

Though I cannot write this with complete certainty, I am pretty sure that most of them did not study here.

More photos after the jump.